nii>IUKT  f 


THE    LAST    EPISODE   OF  THE 
FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

BEING 

A  HISTORY  OF  GRACCHUS  BABEUF  AND 
THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  THE  EQUALS 


GRACCHUS    BABEUF 


From  an  engraving  in  E.-F.  De  Saint  Martin's  '  60  A>is  d'un  Peuple '  (1804) 


THE  LAST  EPISODE  OF  THE 
FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

BEING    A    HISTORY    OF 

GRACCHUS     BABEUF 

AND  THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  THE  EQUALS 


BY 


ERNEST   BELFORT   BAX 

AUTHOR    OF 

"  MARAT  :  THE   PEOPLE'S   FRIEND," 

"the   story   of   the    FRENCH    REVOLUTION," 

■THE   SOCIAL   SIDE   OF   THE    REFORMATION    IN   GERMANY, 

ETC.,    ETC. 


^ 


LONDON 
GRANT   RICHARDS   LTD. 

1911 


HfSTOfff? 


NOTE    ON    AUTHORITIES 

As  the  pi-incipal  sources  that  have  been  used  in  the  preparation 
of  the  following  study  may  be  mentioned  : — 

(1)  The  careful  and  exhaustive  Histoire  de  Gracchus  Babeiif  et 

du  Babouvisme,  largely  based  on  hitherto  unpublished 
documents,  by  M.  Victor  Advielle.     2  vols.  (Paris,  1884). 

(2)  Gracchus  Babeuf  et   le   Conspiration  des  Egaux,  by  Philippe 

Buonarroti  (Paris,  1830),  a  first-hand  narrative  by  one 
of  the  principal  actoi-s  in  the  drama  he  describes. 

(3)  Babeuf    et    le    Socialisme    en     1796,    par     Edouard    Fleury 

(Paris,  1851),  a  book  preserving  some  interesting  details, 
but  prejudiced  and  not  altogether  reliable. 

(4)  Among  the   contemporary  sources    for   the    history  of  the 

movement,  the  Copie  des  Pieces  saisies  dans  le  local  que 
Babeuf  occupoit  lors  de  son  arrestation  (Paris,  Nivose, 
Ann.  V.)  occupies  an  important  place.  It  consists  in  a 
volume  officially  published  by  the  High  Court  immedi- 
ately after  the  trial,  containing  a  complete  collection  of 
the  pieces  de  conviction  which  formed  the  basis  of  the 
prosecution. 

(5)  The  collection   of  the  numbers   of  Babeuf's  journals,  the 

Journal   de    la   Liberie   de  la  Presse  and  the    Tribun   du 
Peuple,  together  with  the  few  numbers  of  the  Eclaireur, 
a  journal  published  for  a  short  time  by  Babeuf  s  friend 
Sylvain    Marechal,    to    be    found    in    the    Bibliotheque 
Nationale  in  Paris, 
Other,  minor,  references  are  given  in  the  text. 
Allusions  to,  and  accounts  of,  the  movement  are,  of  course, 
to  be  found  in  all  the  journals  of  the  time,  but  they  are  for  the 
most  part  utterly  prejudiced,  and  contain  no  facts  of  importance 
not  given  by  Buonarroti  or  contained  in  the  officially  published 
documents. 

7 


^Kj'OtjoS 


H'STOI!f( 


NOTE    ON    AUTHORITIES 

As  the  principal  sources  that  have  been  used  in  the  preparation 
of  the  follo^\•ing  study  may  be  mentioned  : — 

(1)  The  careful  and  exhaustive  Histoire  de  Gracchus  Baheiif  et 

du   Babouvisme,    largely  based   on    hitherto   unpublished 
documents^  by  M.  Victor  Advielle.     2  vols.  (Paris,  1884). 

(2)  Gracchus  Babeuf  et   le   Conspiration  des  Egaiix,  by  Philippe 

Buonarroti  (Paris,  1830),  a  first-hand  nan-ative  by  one 
of  the  principal  actors  in  the  drama  he  describes. 

(3)  Babeuf   et    le    Socialisme    en     1796,    par     Edouard    Fleury 

(Paris,  1851),  a  book  preserving  some  interesting  details, 
but  prejudiced  and  not  altogether  reliable. 

(4)  Among  the   contemporary  sources    for   the    history  of  the 

movement,  the  Copie  des  Pieces  saisies  dans  le  local  que 
Babeuf  occupoit  lors  de  son  arrestation  (Paris,  Nivose, 
Ann.  V.)  occupies  an  important  place.  It  consists  in  a 
volume  officially  published  by  the  High  Court  immedi- 
ately after  the  trial,  containing  a  complete  collection  of 
the  pieces  de  conviction  which  fomied  the  basis  of  the 
prosecution. 

(5)  The  collection   of  the  numbers   of  Babeuf  s  journals,  the 

Journal   de    la   Liberie   de  la  Presse  and  the    Tribun   du 
Peuple,  together  with  the  few  numbers  of  the  Eclaireur, 
a  journal  published  for  a  short  time  by  Babeuf  s  friend 
Sylvain    Marechal,    to    be    found    in    the    Bibliotheque 
Nationale  in  Paris. 
Other,  minor,  references  are  given  in  the  text. 
Allusions  to,  and  accounts  of,  the  movement  are,  of  course, 
to  be  found  in  all  the  journals  of  the  time,  but  they  are  for  the 
most  part  utterly  prejudiced,  and  contain  no  facts  of  importance 
not  given  by  Buonarroti  or  contained  in  the  officially  published 
documents. 

7 


2*J5c;;36 


PREFACE 

Of  all  the  leading  actors  in  the  great  drama  of  the 
French  Revolution,  there  is  probably  none  less 
known  to  the  average  reader  of  history  than 
the  subject  of  the  present  volume.  All  that  has 
appeared  in  English  in  book  form  up  to  the  present 
time  consists,  I  believe,  in  Bronterre  O'Brien's 
translation  of  Buonaroti's  account  of  the  jNlovement 
^of  the  "  Equals,"  now  long  since  out  of  print.  The 
reason  for  this  neglect,  and  for  the  lack  of  interest 
generally  showTi  in  Babeuf,  is  probably  in  part  to 
be  looked  for  in  the  fact  that  Babeuf  s  public 
activity  consisted  of  a  kind  of  aftermath  of  the 
1  great  historical  events  of  the  Revolution.  The 
j  Revolution,  properly  speaking,  had  run  its  course 
!__before  Babeuf  appeared  on  the  scene.  The  principal 
leaders  were  fallen  or  dispersed,  the  ragged  levies 
of  the  people's  quarters  of  St  Antoine  and  St 
Marceau  had  risen  en  masse  for  the  last  time,  and 
had  been  beaten  and  disarmed  by  the  forces  of  the 
new  governing  class  that  had  installed  itself  in  the 


10  PREFACE 

seats  of  the  old  royal  and  feudal  authorities.  Francois 
Noel  Babeuf,  the  subsequent  Gracchus,  played  no 
political  role  of  any  importance  while  the  Revolu- 
tion was  at  its  zenith.  His  name  became  first 
prominent  in  the  year  IV.  (1795),  when  the  Society, 
which  later  on  met  near  the  Pantheon,  was  formed. 
The  usual  fate  of  secret  movements,  of  conspiracies, 
overtook  Babeuf s.  It  was  killed  by  treachery — 
killed,  as  its  promoters  fondly  believed,  on  the  eve 
of  success.  In  a  word,  the  movement  was  a  failure, 
and  its  memory  with  the  great  world  soon  tended 
to  pass  into  oblivion.  Nevertheless,  for  students  of 
the  earlier  democratic  movements,  and  of  the  pre- 
cursors of  modern  Socialism,  the  agitation  of  Babeuf 
in  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century  must 
be  of  keen  interest. 

I  may  mention  that  the  following  monograph 
represents  the  carrying  out  of  a  wish,  expressed 
some  years  before  he  died,  of  my  old  friend,  William 
Morris,  who  thought  that  a  clear  and  concise 
account  of  the  Babeuf  incident  in  English  was 
wanted,  and  who  urged  me  to  undertake  the  task. 
Whether  this  little  volume  answers  the  require- 
ments of  the  case  must  be  left  for  the  reader  to 
judge. 

E.  B.  B. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


List  of  Authorities  . 


7 


9 

13 
47 
60 


Preface  .... 

Introduction  .  .  .  - 

I.  Origin  and  Youth  of  Babeuf 
II.  The  Revolutionary  Drama  Opens 

III.  Vicissitudes  of  Fortune  and  Ripening  of  Ideas      71 

IV.  The  Society  of  the  Pantheon  .  .         91 
V.  The  Secret  Directory  and  its  Principles     .       105 

VI.  The  Projected  Insurrection  and  its  Plans  .       137 
VII.  The  Catastrophe  .  .  .  .164 

VIII.  The  Trial  of  Babeuf  and  his  Colleagues    .       194 

IX.  End  of  Trial  and  Tragic  Death  of  Babeuf      227 

Conclusion      ......       246 

Index  ..... 


11 


ERRATA 

'Page  21,  line  10  from  top,  for  former  read  latter. 

Page  40,  line  7  from  top,  for  Rousin  read  Ronsiu. 

Page  86,  line  13  from  bottom,  insert  comma  after  issued. 

Page  104,  line  4  from  top,  for  (trrest  read  his  attempted 
arrest. 

Page  195,  top  line,  delete  those  of. 


INTRODUCTION 

To  understand  the  history  and  the  real  significance 
of  even  the  most  prominent  ideas  of  an  epoch,  it  is 
necessary  to  reaUse  what  constitutes  the  mental 
background,  as  we  may  term  it,  of  the  period  in 
question,  for  it  is  this  that  gives  to  the  expressed 
ideas  of  a  time  their  real  significance.  It  has  often 
been  remarked  that  the  same  actual  words  or 
phrases  may  have  a  different  meaning  at  different 
times.  To  take  a  familiar  illustration — that  of  Dr 
Johnson's  well-known  aphorism  that  "  patriotism  is 
the  last  resort  of  scoundrels."  The  uneducated  or 
half-educated  man  in  the  street  of  to-day  would 
regard  this  viot  as  an  attack  by  some  "little 
Englander  "  on  the  Jingo  or  Imperialist  with  whom 
he  is  famihar, — the  background  of  his  mind,  in  the 
light  of  which  he  interprets  it,  consisting  of  the 
conditions  of  English  politics  that  have  grown  up 
during  the  last  generation.  Needless  to  say,  the 
expression  to  the  mind  of  Dr  Johnson,  who  first 
used  it,  had   an   entirely   different,   and   in   some 


13 


U  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

respects  even  an  opposite,  meaning.  He  knew 
nothing  of  modern  Imperialism,  of  the  glorious 
British  Empire  upon  which  the  sun  never  sets : 
what  was  in  his  mind  was  the  antithesis,  not 
between  the  advocate  of  an  aggressive  British 
Empire  and  a  respecter  of  the  rights  of  weaker 
peoples,  but  an  advocate  of  the  rights  of  the  people 
of  a  given  country  against  its  ruling  classes.  This 
was  the  sense  in  which  the  eighteenth  century,  for 
the  most  part,  understood  the  words  "  patriot "  and 
"patriotism,"  the  great  political  antithesis  of  the 
eighteenth  century  being  that  between  rulers  and 
people.  This  is  an  obvious  instance.  But  the 
capacity  of  the  same  form  of  words  to  express 
totally  different  meanings  according  to  the  age  in 
which  they  appear,  and  the  great  danger  of  their 
entire  falsification  by  reading  into  them  the  mind 
of  a  later  period,  can  never  be  sufficiently  present 
to  the  sense  of  the  historian.  Every  form  of  ideas 
that  belongs  to  a  past  period  of  history,  no  matter 
how  modern  it  may  look,  we  may  be  quite  sure  is 
not  what  it  appears  to  us  of  the  twentieth  century 
at  first  sight.  The  intellectual  background  of  the 
men  w^ho  enunciated  the  ideas  in  question  is  so 
different,  that  the  meaning  present  to  them  in  the 
expressions  used  and  the  meaning  they  evoke  in 
us  cannot  possibly  be  the  same. 

The  above  remarks  apply  to  our  estimation  of 
eighteenth  century  thought  generally,  and,  not  least, 


INTRODUCTION  15 

to  the  thought  of  the  French  Revolution.  To 
understand  this  thought  properly,  we  have  to 
investigate  the  conditions  that  reflected  themselves 
in  the  mental  background  of  the  leading  actors. 
One  thing  we  have  to  do  is  to  eliminate  all  concep- 
tions having  their  origin  in  the  doctrine  of  evolution 
from  their  mental  framework.  This  it  is  somewhat 
difficult  for  the  present  generation  effectually  to 
accomplish.  Our  whole  thought  is  so  bound  up 
with  the  notion  of  development,  that  it  is  difficult 
for  us  to  realise  the  intellectual  attitude  of  the  man 
of  intelligence  to  whom  this  idea  has  never  presented 
itself.  Yet,  needless  to  say,  to  the  eighteenth- 
century  thinker  in  general  it  was  entirely  absent. 
Very  noticeable  is  this  in  the  theories  of  society 
prevalent  during  the  eighteenth  century,  and  that 
formed  the  groundwork  of  the  thought  of  the 
French  Revolution.  The  main  principle  upon 
which  it  all  turned  was  that  of  conscious  and 
arbitrary  construction.  Society,  as  it  existed,  was 
conceived  as  the  outcome  of  a  contract  made  in 
remote  ages,  and  which  might  be  unmade  or  altered 
at  the  will  of  its  individual  members  at  any  time. 
The  classics  still  bulked  largely  in  the  cultured 
man's  outlook  on  history,  politics,  and  the  world  in 
general.  In  seventeenth-century  England  this 
was  modified  by  the  place  the  Enghsh  Bible  held 
in  the  imagination  of  all  classes.  Hence  in  the 
British  political  struggles  of  the  seventeenth  century 


16  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

we  find  the  Old  Testament  the  great  storehouse 
of  instances  on  which  the  popular  imagination  falls 
back.  In  France  of  the  eighteenth  century,  on  the 
contrary,  the  classical  tradition  held  undisturbed 
sway,  alike  with  the  cultivated  and  the  popular 
intelligence.  The  very  names  indicate  this.  In 
the  place  of  Biblical  names  we  have  Anacharsis 
Clootz,  Anaxagoras  Chaumette,  Gracchus  Babeuf, 
and  the  like.  Everyone  with  the  smallest  smatter- 
ing of  education  talked  Roman  History,  just  as  in 
the  English  political  movements  of  the  preceding 
century  everyone  talked  Old  Testament.  As  for 
the  literary  movement  in  France,  this  was  derived 
mainly  from  English  sources.  Hobbes,  Locke, 
Shaftesbury,  Hutcheson,  Mandeville,  Bolingbroke, 
and  other  less  known  English  writers  contributed 
to  build  up  the  theories  of  Condillac,  Helvetius, 
D'Holbach,  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  and  the  Encyclo- 
pasdists. 

Political  and  social  ideas  of  the  time  were  natur- 
ally dominated  by  the  leading  political  forms  of 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  These 
were  absolutism,  working  through  a  bureaucracy, 
on  the  one  side,  and  an  all  but  rightless  people, 
composed  more  or  less  of  a  downtrodden  peasantry 
in  the  country,  and  a  middle-class,  still  largely 
composed  of  small  masters,  in  the  towns.  A  prole- 
tariat in  the  modern  sense,  which  implies  the 
existence  of  the  great   machine-industry,  did  not 


INTRODUCTION  17 

exist.  But  a  population,  not  as  yet  relatively  very 
numerous  except  in  a  few  large  towns,  of  journey- 
men and  labourers,  which  was  destined  to  become 
the  groundwork  of  the  modern  proletariat,  did 
undoubtedly  obtain,  but  obtained  only  as  an 
economic  appendix  of  the  small  middle-class  to 
which  reference  has  been  made.  The  old  feudal 
landowning  class,  which  had  come  down  from 
mediaeval  times,  had  now  in  the  main  become  an 
absentee  landowning  class,  dancing  attendance  at 
courts  and  growing  financially  poorer.  While  still 
retaining  many  of  its  feudal  privileges,  it  func- 
tioned for  the  most  part  through  its  members 
holding  positions  in  the  bureaucratic  hierarchy 
which  centred  in  the  Crown.  As  a  consequence 
of  the  foregoing  conditions,  the  leading  political 
category  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies was  that  of  Ruler  and  Subject.  Similarly, 
the  leading  economic  category  was  that  of  Rich 
and  Poor.  It  may  be  said,  of  course,  that  these 
categories  obtain  also  to-day.  But  they  are  no 
longer  dominant  as  categories  in  their  bare  abstract- 
ness,  as  they  were  in  the  eighteenth  century.  In 
the  Western  Europe  of  modern  times  absolutism  has 
uniformly  broken  down  in  favour  of  some  form  of 
popular  representation.  Hence  there  is,  in  theory 
at  least,  no  longer  a  pure  and  unadulterated  Ruler 
in  the  old  sense,  any  more  than  there  is  a  pure  and 
unadulterated  Subject  in  the  old  sense.     In  a  word, 


18  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

with  the  dominance  in  the  poHtical  sphere  of  som 
form  of  ConstitutionaHsm,  the  edge  of  the  ol 
antithesis  has  become  blunted.  It  has  no  longe 
in  its  old  and  bare  form,  the  incisive  force  that : 
once  had. 

Again,  the  corresponding  leading  antithesis  c 

the  eighteenth  century  in  economics,  that  of  Ric 

and    Poor,   has    likewise    in   a   measure    lost    it 

pregnancy  in  the  modern  world.     The  rich  are  n 

longer  an  approximately  homogeneous  class  ove 

against  the  poor,  as  also  a  relatively  homogeneou 

section  of  society.     There  is  no  one  class  of  rici 

men    more    or    less    completely    dominating    th 

economic   situation  of  to-day,  as  did  the  FrencJ 

noble  and  higher  ecclesiastic  of  the  ancien  regimt 

In    the    most    recent    developments    of    moderi 

Capitalism,  it  is  true  that  the  financial  Capitalis 

takes  the  lead.     But  he  does  not,  as  yet,  completel; 

dominate  the  economic  situation.     The  Industrie 

Capitalist  or  Syndicate  plays  a  scarcely  less  impor 

tant  part  in  the  economic  system  of  the  moden 

world,  while  the  old   Landowner,  who  has  comt 

down  from  the  ages  of  feudalism,  still  continues  t( 

exist,  even  if  he  no  longer  flourishes  as  of  yore 

The  interests,  moreover,  of  the  Landowner  as  such 

and  of  the  Industrial  Capitalist  as  such,  are  ofter 

in  strong  conflict.     The  same  may  be  said  of  the 

small  Capitalist  and  of  the  large  Capitalist.     In  fact 

the  Capitalist  class  itself  is  not  homogeneous.     I] 


INTRODUCTION  19 

there  is  no  homogeneous  rich  class  to-day,  there  is 
certainly  no  homogeneous  poor  class :  the  small 
middle-class  is  more  or  less  decadent.  The  "  Poor," 
like  the  "  People,"  is,  in  short,  an  expression  cover- 
ing various  distinct  social  groups  to-day,  with  aims 
and  interests  by  no  means  always  harmonious,  not 
to  say  identical.  To-day  the  economic  antithesis 
receives  its  most  adequate  expression,  not  in  the 
vague  and  more  or  less  amorphous  concepts  of 
"  Rich  "  and  "  Poor,"  but  in  the  extreme  poles  of 
the  antithesis,  that  of  Capitalist  on  the  one  hand 
and  Workman  on  the  other. 

The  CapitaHst  System,  which  forms  the  eco- 
nomic basis  of  present  society,  points  more  and 
more  to  the  possessor  or  effective  controller  of 
the  means  of  production,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  workman  who  has  nought  but  his  labour 
power,  on  the  other,  as  representing  the  salient 
economic  antithesis  of  the  world  in  which  we 
live.  It  is,  if  one  will,  of  course  only  a  mode 
of  the  old  time-honoured  antithesis  of  Rich  and 
Poor,  but  its  importance  consists  in  the  fact  that 
it  is  a  mode  which  defines  the  relation  with  regard 
to  contemporary  conditions  which  the  old,  vague 
antithesis  of  Rich  and  Poor  does  not  do.  The  latter 
sufficed  for  a  time  when  the  class  conflicts  of  the 
modern  world  were  in  embryo,  when  the  modern 
Proletariat,  uith  its  economic  complement,  the  great 
Industrial  Bourgeoisie,  was  in  its  infancy. 


20  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

At  that  time  the  working  classes  of  the  towr 
taking  them  in  the  bulk,  were  not  yet  readily  disti] 
guishable,  as  regards  their  interests,  from  the  poor 
sections  of  the  middle-class.  The  whole  questic 
seemed  only  one  of  degree,  from  the  well-to-do  (f 
that  time)  large  employer  of  labour  like  Reveillon  < 
Santerre,  a  vara  avis,  of  whom  only  a  few  specimei 
existed  in  Paris  and  in  other  large  towns,  throu^ 
the  small  master  working  himself  and  employing 
few  journeymen  to  assist  him,  to  the  small  indepei 
dent  craftsman  who  could  not  afford  to  emplc 
labour,  down  to  the  journeyman  labourer  himse] 
There  seemed  no  essential  economic  halting-plac 
At  the  top  of  the  scale  you  had  a  man  relative" 
rich,  but  still  not  rich  as  the  noble  was  rich,  and  ; 
the  lower  end  of  the  scale  you  had  various  grad 
tions  of  poverty.  Outside  this  small  industri 
middle-class  of  the  towns  was  to  be  found  the  ma 
of  the  land,  the  peasant,  who  formed  the  bulk  < 
the  population  of  France.  Here,  in  the  peasant  i 
his  hut,  as  against  the  noble  in  his  chateau,  the  loi 
of  the  countryside,  was  to  be  found  the  antithes 
of  rich  and  poor  in  its  most  direct  and  its  sharpe 
form.  Bad  seasons  and  abject  local  conditions  hi 
driven  numbers  of  the  peasantry  into  the  town 
both  before  and  during  the  early  years  of  tl 
Revolution.  These  detached  elements  of  the  run 
class  formed  a  vagabond  population,  living  froi 
hand  to  mouth,  and  not  fitting  into  any  distini 


INTRODUCTION  21 

section  of  society  as  then  organised.  In  the  France 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  intellectual  and 
bureaucratic  middle-class,  including  the  middle 
ranks  of  the  clergy,  attached  by  social  and  economic 
bonds  to  the  smaller  noblesse,  and  which  formed 
the  intellectual  backbone  of  the  moderate  side  of 
the  Revolution,  are  not  to  be  confounded,  it  should 
be  observed,  with  the  industrial  middle -class. 
Though  also  men  of  the  TliircL  Estate,  they  must 
not  be  identified  with  the  former.  From  them  the 
ranks  of  the  Constitutionalists  and  Girondists  were 
mainly  recruited. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  wiU  be  evident  how 
the  appeals  of  Babeuf  and  those  who  thought  like 
him  were  necessarily  to  the  poor  in  general,  unlike 
the  appeal  of  the  modern  Socialist  agitation,  which 
is  pre-eminently  to  the  working-classes  of  the  great 
industry — to  the  modern  proletariat.  Similarly, 
from  the  political  side,  the  appeal  of  the  French 
Revolutionist  was  to  man  in  general.  He  called 
upon  him  to  claim  his  rights  as  citizen.  The  appeal 
of  the  modern  Socialist  is  not  so  much  to  man  in 
general,  to  man  in  the  abstract,  as  to  man  as  the 
producer  of  wealth ;  in  other  words,  to  the  workman. 
He,  the  Socialist,  calls  upon  the  workman,  as  the 
producer  of  wealth,  to  claim  his  right  as  a  class,  to 
be  at  once  possessor,  controller,  and  organiser  of 
production  and  the  enjoyer  of  the  wealth  produced. 
The  idea  of  citizenship  is  not  sufficiently  definite  for 


22  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

modern  use.  All  these  considerations  are  necessar 
to  be  taken  into  account  in  judging  the  outlook  o 
the  men  of  the  Revolution.  Their  sociolomcal  anc 
pohtical  prospective  was  abstract.  They  regarde( 
all  things  as  dominated  by  abstractions — right 
virtue,  citizenship,  man. 

Even  the  great  Revolutionary  trinity,  "  Liberty 
Equality,  Fraternity,"  was  conceived  of  in  th( 
abstract  way  of  looking  at  things  peculiar  to  th( 
eighteenth  century.  In  the  absence  of  the  idei 
of  evolution  it  was  inevitable  that  society  shoulc 
be  regarded  as  governed  by  such  abstract  notions 
INJodern  Socialist  thought,  on  the  other  hand 
seeks  a  realisation  of  "  Liberty,  Equality,  anc 
Fraternity"  in  the  concrete  development  of  i 
new  society  from  germs  present  in  existing  society 
It  takes  its  stand  upon  a  social  growth — eco- 
nomical, political,  and  ethical — which  has  in  the 
past  proceeded,  in  the  main,  independently  o: 
the  conscious  will  of  man.  To  the  eighteenth 
century,  liberty  was  a  formal  pattern,  to  be  appliec 
as  a  label  is  applied  in  the  most  superficial 
manner.  The  modern  mind  sees  that  often- 
times a  formal  liberty,  such  as  that,  for  example, 
comprised  in  so-called  "  liberty  of  contract "  as 
between  the  possessor  of  the  means  of  production 
and  the  propertyless  workman,  is  a  mere  form  and 
nothing  more  — a  form  concealing  a  content  which 
is  its  very  opposite.    It  is  seen  clearly  by  the  modern 


INTRODUCTION  23 

revolutionary  thinker  that  the  superficial  form  of 
any  idea  may  easily  be  only  a  blind,  and  that  what 
we  have  to  look  to  is  its  concrete  embodiment  in  a 
given  society.  To  this  more  than  a  mere  label  is 
necessary.  The  Paris  of  the  French  Revolution 
was  enamoured  of  the  bare  word  "  liberty,"  and 
felt  it  a  revolutionary  duty  to  apply  it  on  every 
occasion  and  in  every  detail  of  life  in  its  barest 
form,  so  that  the  Parisians  of  1793  opened  all  the 
cages  of  their  song-birds  and  let  the  inmates  fly 
away,  with  the  result  that  the  streets  of  Paris  were 
strewn  with  the  dead  bodies  of  canaries  and  other 
hapless  victims.  This  is  a  trivial  illustration  of 
devotion  to  a  term  applied  in  its  hard,  formal 
abstraction,  or  as  a  label. 

We  are  not  free  even  in  the  present  day  from 
the  worship  of  an  abstract  phrase  connoting  an 
idea  regardless  of  its  real  content.  This  is  very 
noticeable  in  the  modern  Feminist  movement.  We 
find  the  notion  of  chivalry,  as  implying  consideration 
and  deference  for  weakness,  exploited  to  its  fullest 
extent  by  the  Feminist  advocate,  by  using  the 
notion  of  weakness  as  a  superficial  label  applied  to 
every  member  of  the  female  sex,  regardless  of  the 
facts  or  circumstances  of  any  given  case,  or  of  the 
general  social  conditions  obtaining  to-day.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  physical  strength  or  weakness  of 
the  individual  counts  for  very  little  in  the  present 
age,  when   disputes   are  decided,  not  by  personal 


24  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

prowess,  but  by  the  power  of  the  State,  through  its 
accredited  organs.  A  woman  in  the  power  of  the 
law  or  opposed  by  superior  force  could  under  no 
circumstances  be  in  worse  case  than  a  man 
similarly  situated.  But  the  fact  is,  by  virtue  of 
this  very  sex  weakness  she  is  in  a  much  stronger 
position  than  the  man,  and  hence  deserves  much 
less  pity  than  a  man  would  do  under  like  circum- 
stances. A  maudlin  sentiment  is  sought  to  be 
aroused  in  the  public  mind  by  the  employment  of 
the  notions  of  weakness  and  chivalry  as  the  label, 
the  justification  for  which  is  purely  formal  and 
abstract,  and  which  is  contradicted  by  the  content 
of  every  given  case,  as  determined  by  existing  law 
and  public  opinion.  Formal  sex  weakness  and 
disability  has  thus  been  converted  into  real  sex 
strength  and  domination.  But  by  dint  of  ignoring 
this  conversion,  and  taking  his  stand  on  physio- 
logical facts  which  under  modern  conditions  have 
become  purely  irrelevant,  the  feminist  can  succeed 
in  hoodwinking  public  opinion  as  to  the  reality 
embodied  in  the  facts,  and  hence  as  to  the  true 
distribution  of  effective  strength  and  weakness 
between  the  sexes  in  modern  society. 

Though  the  course  of  the  French  Revolution, 
up  to  the  time  of  Gracchus  Babeuf  s  entry  into  the 
political  arena,  is  one  of  those  matters  with  which 
every  modern  representative  of  Macaulay's  School- 


INTRODUCTION^ 

boy  is  supposed  to  be  familiar,  it  may  not  be  out  of 
place   for   those  readers  whose  Revolution  lore  is 
not  altogether  as  fresh  as  it  might  be  to  devote  a 
few  pages  to  a  short  sketch  of  the  course  of  events 
from  the  assembly  of  the  States-General  on  May 
the   5th,  1789,  to  the  Revolution   of  the   9th  of 
Thermidor,   July  the   27th,    1794,   consequent  on 
which  the  political  activity  proper  of  Babeuf  began. 
The  day  after  the  opening  of  the  States- General 
was   signalised   by  the    insistence    of   the    Third 
Estate  on  its  being  joined  by  the  other  Estates  in 
the  large  hall  of  Versailles.     Wrangling  as  to  the 
form  the  deliberations  should  take — the  First  and 
Second  Estates,  i.e.  the  nobility  and  higher  clergy, 
with    few   exceptions,  refusing    to    unite    in   the 
same  council  chamber  with  the  Third  Estate — con- 
tinued till  June  the  15th,  when,  on  the  proposal  of 
the  Abbe  Sieyes,  the  Third  Estate  proclaimed  itself 
the  representative  assembly  of  the  French  nation. 
The  title  of  National  Assembly  was  adopted  the 
next  day.     This  action  was  followed  on  the  20th 
of  the  month  by  the  closing  of  the  great  hall  by 
the  king  and  the  adjournment  of  the  Constituent 
National  Assembly  to  the  Tennis  Court,  where  the 
famous  oath  was  taken  not  to  separate  till  a  con- 
stitution had  been  given  to  France.     The  king  in 
vain  attempted  to  annul  the  action  of  the  Third 
Estate,  and  finally,  after  some  days,  agreed  to  the 
union  of  the  Estates  as  a  National  Assembly. 


26  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

On  the  11th  of  July  the  king  refused  to  accede  to 
the  Assembly's  request  to  remove  the  troops  then 
at  Versailles,  and  at  the  same  time  dismissed  the 
popular  minister,  Necker.  The  latter  event  aroused 
the  whole  of  Paris,  and  was  followed  by  meetings 
and  tumults  throughout  the  city.  The  next  day 
a  citizen  guard  was  formed  in  Paris  sixty  thousand 
strong,  pikes  were  forged  and  guns  sought  for. 
On  the  14th,  in  the  belief  that  a  royal  attack  on 
the  city  from  Versailles  was  imminent,  the  search 
for  arms  was  redoubled,  the  Bastille  was  stormed 
and  taken. 

Emigration  of  nobles  now  began  on  a  large 
scale,  and  at  the  same  time  the  burning  of  chateaux 
went  on  throughout  the  countryside.  On  the 
celebrated  night  of  the  4th  of  August  the  Assembly 
aboHshed  all  feudal  rights,  and  established  equality 
before  the  law  and  personal  liberty,  by  decree. 
Within  the  next  few  days  the  lands  and  buildings 
of  the  Church  were  in  principle  declared  national 
property.  Necker,  who  had  been  recalled  by  the 
king  after  the  taking  of  the  Bastille,  towards  the 
end  of  September  made  vigorous  but  abortive 
attempts  to  raise  by  loan  sufficient  money  to  meet 
the  situation. 

JNIeanwhile  starvation  and  want  made  fearful 
havoc  in  Paris,  till  on  October  the  5th  several 
thousand  women,  followed  by  immense  crowds, 
marched  to  Versailles,  Lafayette  following  later  on 


INTRODUCTION  27 

with  his  National  Guards.  The  Assembly  and  the 
royal  palace  were  invaded  by  the  populace,  the 
majority  of  whom  remained  in  Versailles  through- 
out the  night,  renewing  the  attack  on  the  palace 
the  following  day.  The  upshot  of  the  whole  aifair 
was  that  on  the  afternoon  of  October  6th  the  royal 
family  were  forced  to  follow  the  crowd  to  Paris, 
taking  up  their  residence  in  the  Tuileries.  The 
Assembly  soon  transferred  itself  also  to  Paris, 
where  it  continued  its  work  of  building  up  the 
constitution. 

The  map  of  France  was  now  altered,  the  old 
produces  abolished,  and  their  place  taken  by  eighty- 
three  departments,  with  corresponding  administra- 
tive bodies.  The  old  parliaments  were  aboHshed 
and  new  law  courts  established.  The  civil  con- 
stitution of  the  clergy  was  now  completed  and  pro- 
mulgated. On  November  the  3rd  the  Assembly 
formally  confiscated  the  effects  of  the  clergy, 
abolishing  them  as  a  separate  order. 

About  this  time  the  Jacobin  Club,  so  called 
from  its  meeting  in  the  old  Jacobin  convent  in  the 
Rue  St  Honore,  began  to  exercise  an  important 
influence  in  pubhc  affairs.  The  work  of  feder- 
ating the  newly  organised  French  nation  in  its 
new  districts  and  departments  now  went  on  apace, 
but  all  the  time  plots  were  being  hatched  to  get 
the  king  away  to  JMetz,  there  to  place  himself  at 
the  head  of  an  army  that  had  been  formed  by  the 


28  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

emigrant  aristocrats.  Some  of  the  principal  of 
these  nobles  were  maintained  at  Trier.  Turin,  and 
other  places  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  French 
frontiers  by  the  Court.  The  ecclesiastical  estates 
were  now  sold,  and  served  as  the  security  for  the 
new  issue  of  paper  money  iassignats)  inaugurated 
by  Necker.  On  the  14th  of  July  of  this  year,  1790, 
the  anniversary  of  the  taking  of  the  Bastille,  a  great 
festival  of  the  Federation  of  all  France  was  held  in 
Paris,  on  the  Champs  de  INIars.  Soon  after  this, 
fresh  clubs  sprang  up  in  all  directions,  which  became 
affiliated  to  the  Jacobin  Society  of  Paris.  In  Paris 
itself,  the  Club  of  the  Cordeliers,  which  embraced 
Danton,  Marat,  and  Hebert,  was  founded  as  a  more 
democratic  rival  of  the  Jacobins. 

In  August  occurred  the  famous  affiiir  of  Nancy, 
which  began  by  an  outrage  offered  to  two  envoys 
of  a  Swiss  regiment  by  French  officers.  This  Swiss 
regiment  became  popular  with  French  revolutionists 
everywhere.  Bouille,  the  commander  of  the  troops 
on  the  eastern  frontier,  ordered  the  Swiss  to  evacuate 
Nancy,  where  they  were  quartered.  They  refused, 
with  the  result  that  Bouille,  with  the  aid  of  some 
German  regiments  and  seven  hundred  royalist 
guards,  ordered  a  massacre,  in  which  half  of  the 
Swiss  regiment  fell,  after  which  twenty-one  were 
hanged  and  fifty  sent  to  the  galleys.  This  affair 
of  the  "  Nancy  massacre,"  as  it  was  called,  was  an 
epoch-making  event,  fraught  with  important  con- 


INTRODUCTION  29 

sequences  to  the  Revolution.  Henceforward  the 
Assembly,  which  had  played  an  equivocal  role  in  the 
whole  business,  together  with  the  king  condoning 
Bouille's  crime,  became  more  and  more  distrusted 
by  the  popular  party.  The  clubs  developed  an 
extraordinary  activity,  and  rose  to  be  of  paramount 
importance  in  the  political  life  of  Paris  and  of 
France. 

Early  in  September,  soon  after  the  news  of  the 
Nancy  massacre  arrived  in  Paris,  Necker  escaped 
from  Paris  and  France,  having  become  unpopular, 
and  impossible  any  longer  as  Finance  Minister. 
In  January  the  clergy  in  the  Assembly  were 
challenged  to  take  the  oath  to  the  Constitution. 
Many  of  them  refused,  thereby  exacerbating  the 
situation.  On  April  the  2nd,  Mirabeau,  the  most 
powerful  mediating  force  between  the  old  and  the 
new  regimes,  died.  This  left  an  opening  for  the 
influence  of  Robespierre  and  other  leaders  of  the 
Jacobin  and  Cordelier  Clubs. 

On  the  night  of  the  20th  of  June  the  famous 
attempted  flight  of  the  king  took  place,  the  idea 
being  that  Louis,  together  with  his  family,  was  to 
be  received  by  Bouille  on  the  eastern  frontier,  prior 
to  the  latter  marching  on  Paris  with  his  army  to 
suppress  the  Revolution.  The  king,  as  is  well 
known,  was  recognised  by  the  ex-dragoon  and 
postmaster  Drouet,  who  apprised  the  authorities 
at  Varennes,  the  next   town   at   which  the  royal 


30  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

party  would  have  to  change  horses,  with  the  result 
that  Louis  and  his  belongings  were  brought  back 
to  Paris.  Henceforward  the  popular  party  was 
becoming  more  and  more  republican.  The  mod- 
erate party  in  the  Assembly  succeeded  in  getting 
the  king  reinstated  after  his  virtual  abdication, 
under  conditions,  which  did  not,  however,  satisfy 
the  popular  party,  the  latter  demanding  his 
summary  dethronement,  if  not  the  estabhshment 
of  a  Republic.  A  gigantic  petition  to  this  effect, 
and  claiming  that  the  matter  should  be  brought 
before  the  nation,  was  carried  to  the  Champs  de 
JMars  by  an  immense  crowd  on  July  the  17th  of 
this  year  (1791).  Lafayette,  accompanied  by  the 
mayor  of  Paris,  Bailly,  arrived  on  the  ground  at 
the  head  of  a  force  of  the  National  Guard  :  result, 
the  notorious  massacre  of  the  Champs  de  INIars. 
This  event  produced  consternation  in  the  ranks  of 
the  popular  party,  and  a  temporary  check  to  the 
Revolutionary  movement. 

At  the  end  of  September  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  consisted  of 
the  members  of  the  States- General  elected  in  1789, 
was  dissolved.  The  newly  elected  Chamber,  called 
the  Legislative  Assembly,  met  on  the  1st  of 
October.  In  this  second  parliament  the  party 
called  at  the  time  Brissotins,  fi'om  their  leader 
Brissot,  but  known  subsequently  by  the  name  of 
Girondins,  from  the  department  of  the   Gironde, 


mTRODUCTION  31 

from  which  many  of  their  chief  orators  came,  was 
in  the  ascendancy.  Petion  became  mayor  of  Paris. 
Meanwhile  the  king  vetoed  various  decrees  passed 
by  the  Assembly.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
compelled  formally  to  remonstrate  to  the  central 
European  Powers  for  harbouring  and  encouraging 
the  emigres  who  held  a  kind  of  court  at  Coblentz, 
and  whose  agents  were  active  throughout  Europe 
in  their  avowed  intention  of  invading  France  at 
the  first  opportunity  to  restore  the  absolute  mon- 
archy. France  remained  in  a  state  of  seething 
discontent  throughout  the  ensuing  winter,  and  the 
relations  with  foreign  powers  were  to  the  last 
degree  strained. 

Finally,  in  JMarch  1792,  Louis  was  forced  to 
appoint  a  Girondin  ministry,  which  promptly 
demanded  explanations  from  the  Austrian  Court. 
The  upshot  was  a  kind  of  ultimatum  on  the  part 
of  the  emperor,  demanding  a  return  to  the  and  en 
regime,  including  the  restoration  of  Church  pro- 
perty, and  the  cession  of  Alsace  to  the  German 
princes. 

War  was  at  last  declared  on  the  20th  of  April, 
on  the  proposition  of  the  king,  who  hoped  for 
a  successful  invasion  of  the  country,  resulting 
in  the  restoration  of  his  ovm  power,  and  also  by 
this  means  to  drain  off  into  the  army  to  a  large 
extent  the  revolutionary  elements  of  the  home 
population.     The  declaration  of  war  was  greeted 


32  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

with  enthusiasm  in  Paris,  as  affording  a  rehef  from 
the  tension  of  the  previous  months.  The  French 
forces  consisted  of  three  armies — the  army  of  the 
north  under  Richambeau,  the  army  of  the  centre 
under  Lafayette,  and  the  army  of  the  Rhine  under 
Luckner.  The  war  began  by  an  unsuccessful 
invasion  of  Brabant.  The  Jacobins  accused  the 
counter-revolutionaries  generally  of  plotting  for 
the  defeat  of  the  French  armies,  and  the  officers 
of  treachery.  On  June  the  28th  the  Assembly 
decreed  the  formation  of  a  military  camp  before 
Paris.  This  decree,  together  with  another  con- 
cerning the  priests  who  refused  to  take  the  oath 
of  loyalty  to  the  constitution,  Louis  peremptorily 
vetoed. 

On  the  20th  of  June  an  insurrectionary  move- 
ment took  place  in  Paris,  the  populace  breaking 
into  the  Tuileries.  From  this  time  the  movement 
for  the  deposition  of  Louis  and  the  abolition  of 
the  monarchy  gained  by  leaps  and  bounds  every 
day.  On  June  the  28th,  Lafayette,  having  left  his 
army,  appeared  in  Paris  to  demand  the  suppression 
and  punishment  of  the  Jacobin  party  for  the  riot 
of  the  20th.  He  obtained  no  favourable  hearing 
from  anyone,  and  returned  discomfited  to  his  army, 
which  he  not  long  afterwards  deserted,  fleeing  across 
the  frontier. 

Throughout  France  now  the  enrolling  of  volun- 
teers went  on ;  numbers  of  these  came  to   Paris, 


INTRODUCTION  33 

ostensibly  for  the  festival  of  the  14th  of  July.  On 
the  22nd  of  July  the  country  was  declared  in  danger; 
the  enrolment  of  volunteers  received  a  double  im- 
petus. Recruits  from  the  provinces  arrived  daily  in 
Paris.  The  Paris  wardships  or  sections  declared 
themselves  in  permanent  session.  On  the  25th, 
Brunswick  launched  his  famous  manifesto  from 
Coblentz,  and  started  on  the  march  to  Paris.  Some 
members  of  the  newly  enrolled  Federal  guards 
formed  a  permanent  committee  at  the  Jacobins, 
while  the  forty-eight  sections  of  the  city  appointed 
a  central  committee  from  their  number  to  sit  in 
the  Hotel  de  Ville.  On  the  29th  a  newly  created 
battalion  of  guards  from  Marseilles  arrived  in  Paris, 
singing  its  war  hymn,  subsequently  known  as  the 
Marseillaise.  The  demands  for  the  dethronement 
of  the  king,  by  the  Jacobin  and  popular  party 
generally,  became  more  clamorous  and  insistent 
than  ever.  Finally,  on  the  9th  of  August,  a  general 
assembly  of  the  sections  took  place  at  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  at  which  it  was  agreed  to  demand  the 
immediate  abdication  of  the  king,  faiHng  which,  it 
was  resolved  to  storm  the  palace  of  the  Tuileries 
at  midnight.  The  old  municipal  council,  with  its 
mayor,  was  then  declared  dissolved,  and  its  place 
taken  by  a  Revolutionary  Commune. 

The  attack  on  the  Tuileries  took  place  actually 
in  the  early  morning  of  the  10th  of  August,  with 

the  result  that  is  well  known.      Louis  was  sub- 

3 


34  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

sequently  imprisoned  with  his  family  in  the 
Temple,  under  the  orders  of  the  Revolutionary 
Commune.  By  the  end  of  August  news  of  the 
clerical  and  royalist  outbreak  in  La  Vendee  reached 
Paris.  The  arrest  of  supposed  royalist  plotters 
within  the  capital  took  place  wholesale.  From 
the  3rd  to  the  6th  of  September  the  so-called 
September  massacres  were  enacted  by  a  body  of 
persons  between  two  and  three  hundred  strong, 
who  went  from  prison  to  prison  killing  supposed 
traitors.  At  about  the  same  time  Dumouriez,  at 
the  head  of  the  raw  levies  of  volunteers  recently 
formed,  drove  back  from  the  wooded  ridges  of  the 
Argonne  the  armies  of  Brunswick.  A  week  or 
two  later  a  decisive  victory  of  the  French  at 
Valmy  relieved  the  situation. 

The  old  Legislative  Assembly  having  been  dis- 
solved, and  a  National  Convention  convoked  on 
a  basis  of  universal  but  indirect  suffrage,  the 
new  legislative  body  opened  its  sittings  on 
September  the  21st.  The  dethronement  of  the 
king  and  the  establishment  of  a  Republic  was 
immediately  decreed.  A  committee  to  draw 
up  the  basis  of  a  new  constitution,  founded  on 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  was  nominated. 
Within  the  Convention,  two  distinct  parties  formed 
themselves,  the  old  Girondist  party  reinforced, 
and  the  popular  party,  representing  mainly  the 
Paris  deputies,  called  the  Mountain,  from  the  fact 


INTRODUCTION  35 

of  its  members  sitting  on  the  highest  benches  of 
the  place  of  assembly.  Outside  these  two  parties 
were  the  mass  of  members  called  the  Plain,  or, 
in  derision,  the  Marsh.  The  latter  usually  voted 
with  the  party  which  was  for  the  time  being  in 
power.  The  famine  in  Paris,  especially  the  scarcity 
of  bread,  now  assumed  serious  proportions ;  bread 
riots  were  of  daily  occurrence.  Within  the  Con- 
vention, exacerbation  of  parties  grew  daily  more 
acute.  The  special  hete  noire  of  the  Girondists 
was  INlarat,  but  they  also  dreaded  Robespierre,  as 
aiming  at  the  Dictatorship.  After  weeks  of 
wrangling,  Louis  was  finally  judged  by  the  Con- 
vention and  condemned  to  death  without  delay. 
On  the  21st  of  January  1793  his  execution  took 
place  on  the  Place  de  la  Revolution,  formerly 
Place  Royale. 

After  the  king's  death  the  feud  between  the 
Mountain  and  the  Gironde  grew  more  bitter. 
The  Girondists,  claiming  to  represent  the  provinces 
as  against  Paris,  the  stronghold  of  the  Mountain, 
favoured  a  federal  republic ;  the  Mountain,  on  the 
other  hand,  insisted  on  an  united  and  centralised 
republic,  dominated  by  Paris.  The  large  towns  of 
the  departments  favoured  the  federal  idea,  and 
hence  its  exponents,  the  Girondists,  while  Paris 
remained  faithful  to  the  Mountain.  Up  to  this 
time  the  executive  power  had,  in  the  main, 
continued    uninterruptedly   in   the   hands    of  the 


36  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

Girondins.  But  the  disasters  now  overtaking 
Dumouriez,  the  favourite  general  of  the  party, 
in  his  attempt  to  invade  Holland,  cast  a  sus- 
picion of  treachery,  not  only  upon  Dumouriez 
himself,  but  more  or  less  affected  the  whole 
Girondist  faction  in  the  popular  mind.  Demands 
were  made  on  various  sides  for  the  arrest  and  ex- 
pulsion of  twenty-two  of  the  leading  Girondists. 
In  March,  forty-four  thousand  communes  through- 
out France  now  each  appointed  its  permanent 
revolutionary  committee  to  watch  affairs,  and 
especially  to  arrest  and  imprison  suspected  traitors 
and  reactionaries. 

The  Girondists  now  succeeded  in  getting  a 
commission  appointed  to  inquire  into  alleged 
plots  of  the  Jacobins  and  the  popular  party 
generally.  They  also  obtained  the  indictment  of 
ilarat  on  a  charge  of  inciting  to  disorder  and 
breaches  of  the  peace.  INIarat  was  tried,  but 
triumphantly  acquitted.  These  measures  did  not 
serve  their  authors,  the  Girondins,  in  any  way,  but 
merely  helped  to  irritate  their  opponents.  The 
rage  of  Paris,  the  JVlountain,  and  the  Jacobins 
against  the  party  hitherto  dominant  in  the  Con- 
vention reached  its  climax  in  the  last  days  of 
May,  when  the  Commune  took  the  lead  in  a 
popular  insurrection  against  the  Convention  and 
the  authorities.  This  ended  on  the  2nd  of  June 
in   the    arrest    of    twenty-two    of    the    Girondist 


INTRODUCTION  37 

deputies,  two  ministers,  and  of  the  hated  Com- 
mission of  Twelve.  The  only  hope  for  the  Girondist 
faction  lay  now  in  the  raising  of  the  departments 
against  what  was  represented  as  the  dictatorship 
of  Paris. 

On  the  14th  of  July,  Charlotte  Corday,  egged 
on  by  Girondist  misrepresentation,  murdered  Marat. 
The  effect  of  this  event  throughout  the  country 
was  immense.  It  roused  the  indignation  of  the 
whole  of  revolutionary  France,  vastly  strengthen- 
ing the  position  of  the  Mountain  and  the  Jacobins. 
Up  to  this  time  the  situation  of  the  Girondists  was 
not  unfavourable.  The  chances  of  the  Girondists' 
insurrection  seemed  by  no  means  hopeless.  They 
had  the  bulk  of  the  provinces  with  them,  includ- 
ing the  large  cities  of  the  south.  But  before  the 
end  of  July  the  Girondist  army  melted  away 
without  having  struck  a  blow.  The  cities  Lyons, 
Bordeaux,  Marseilles,  Caen,  etc.,  that  still  adhered 
to  the  Girondist  cause,  were  taken  by  the  National 
Forces  of  the  Republic,  and  for  the  most  part 
paid  heavily  for  their  partisanship.  Meanwhile 
the  committee  for  drawing  up  the  new  constitu- 
tion had  finished  its  labours.  The  draft  was 
submitted  to  the  forty-four  thousand  communes 
of  France,  and  accepted  by  an  enormous  majority. 
On  the  10th  of  August,  the  anniversary  of  the 
taking  of  the  Tuileries,  the  constitution  was 
promulgated  in  Paris  with  great  rejoicings.     This 


38  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

was  the  famous  Constitution  of  1793,  which  became 
the  political  sheet-anchor  of  the  French  democracy. 
Soon  after  the  revolution  which  had  placed  the 
Mountain  in  power,  the  recently  formed  and  now 
strengthened  executive  body,  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety,  had  decided  that  a  democratic  con- 
stitution in  accordance  with  the  views  of  the 
Jacobins  should  be  drawn  up.  The  task  of  doing 
this  was  entrusted  to  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Convention,  the  ex-noble  and  friend  of  Danton, 
Herault  de  Sechelles.  He  was  assisted  by  four 
other  Montagnards — St  Just,  Couthon,  Ramel,  and 
Mathieu.  His  draft  was  adopted  by  the  Conven- 
tion on  June  the  10th.  It  may  be  remarked  that 
the  question  of  the  constitution  had  been  promi- 
nently before  the  Convention,  and  more  than  one 
draft  had  been  made  by  the  Girondists,  which  had 
been  received  coldly  by  the  Convention  and  public 
opinion,  and  actively  opposed  by  the  Mountain. 
The  constitution  of  Herault  de  Sechelles  and  his 
colleagues,  called  the  Constitution  of  1793,  was  the 
first  and  only  constitution  emanating  officially  from 
the  Mountain  and  the  Jacobins.  This  constitution, 
though  adopted,  as  stated,  by  an  enormous  majority 
of  the  French  people  through  their  primary 
assemblies,  was  suspended  immediately  after  it 
was  promulgated,  and  never  became  operative. 

Invasion  now  threatened  France  from  all  sides. 
It  was  in  August  1793  that  the  two  committees, 


INTRODUCTION  39 

that  of  Public  Safety,  sometimes  called  the  Com- 
mittee of  Government,  and  that  of  General 
Security,  concerned  mainly  with  the  executive 
functions  of  police,  respectively,  were  given  largely 
increased  powers,  amounting  practically  to  those  of 
a  dictatorship.  Superhuman  efforts  were  now 
made  to  raise  and  equip  more  troops  ;  every^vhere 
were  enlistments  and  requisitions.  The  Republic 
has  been  adequately  described  as  presenting,  in  this 
autumn  of  1793,  the  appearance  of  an  armed  camp. 
It  was  now  that  the  "  Reign  of  Terror  "  began  in 
earnest.  The  Committee  of  Public  Safety  declared 
that  the  Republic  was  revolutionary,  and  must 
remain  so  until  all  danger  from  the  enemy  was 
past.  The  incriminated  Girondists  were  tried 
before  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal  and  guillotined. 
The  rest  of  the  party  were  either  imprisoned  or 
outlawed.  JNIarie  Antoinette,  generals,  ex-deputies 
of  the  constituent  and  legislative  assemblies,  nobles, 
and  officials  of  the  ancien  regime  fell  beneath  the 
national  knife,  now  in  daily  operation. 

In  October  1793  the  revolutionary  government 
was  proclaimed,  the  dictatorship  of  the  Committee 
of  Pubhc  Safety  came  into  full  force,  and  with  it 
the  power  of  its  now  strongest  member,  Robes- 
pierre. The  Committee  of  Public  Safety  being 
installed  as,  de  jure,  the  supreme  authority  in 
France,  it  found  that  it  had  to  make  up  its 
account  with  the  de  facto  authority  of  the  day, 


40  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

to  wit,  the  Paris  Commune.  At  first  it  was  the 
Commune  that  effectively  dominated  the  situation. 
Chaumette  and  Hebert  had  just  instituted  the 
worship  of  Reason  on  the  ruins  of  CathoUcism. 
The  Commune,  by  means  of  its  revolutionary  army, 
consisting  of  six  or  seven  thousand  men  under  the 
command  of  Rousin,  the  dramatic  author,  under- 
took the  purification  of  the  provinces  from  reac- 
tionary elements,  although  its  immediate  action 
was  mainly  confined  to  the  departments  around 
Paris.  But  throughout  France  at  this  time  guillo- 
tining was  going  on.  Carrier  was  sent  to  Nantes  ; 
Lebon  to  Arras ;  JMaignet,  Fouche,  Barras,  Freron 
were  despatched  to  the  cities  of  the  south ;  and 
everywhere  the  revolutionary  committees  were 
active  in  hunting  down  traitors  or  supposed 
traitors. 

By  the  end  of  1793  fourteen  armies  were  in  the 
field.  The  year  closed  amid  the  success  of  the 
French  arms  everywhere.  Friction,  however, 
between  the  two  rival  central  powers,  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety  and  the  Paris  Commune, 
had  already  begun.  The  attack  on  the  Paris 
Commune,  or  the  Hebertist  faction,  as  it  was 
now  called,  from  Hebert,  one  of  its  chief  members 
and  editor  of  the  Pere  Duchesne  journal,  by  the 
followers  of  Robespierre,  was  started  by  Robespierre 
himself  on  September  the  5th.  But  the  Commune 
was  still  strong.     In  October  it  inaugurated  the  new 


INTRODUCTION  41 

worship  of  Reason.  Robespierres  determination 
to  crush  the  rival  power  was  now  formed.  At  the 
same  time,  within  the  Convention,  the  Mountain 
was,  however,  showing  signs  of  getting  out  of  hand. 
Two  members,  who  expressed  the  ^^ew  that  the 
committees  were  terrorising  over  the  Convention, 
were  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  consequence.  In 
the  provinces  the  representatives  "  on  mission " 
dominated  the  situation,  acting  in  many  cases  as 
local  dictators. 

The  friction  between  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety,  whose  soul  was  Robespierre,  and  the 
Commune  of  Paris,  led  by  Chaumette  and  Hebert, 
continued  throughout  the  early  part  of  1794.  Of 
the  two  chief  clubs,  the  Jacobins  and  the  CordeUers, 
the  stronghold  of  Robespierre  and  his  Committee 
was  the  Jacobins ;  that  of  the  Commune,  i.e.  of 
Hebert  and  his  followers,  was  the  Cordeliers. 
But  there  was  a  third  party  already  in  the  field. 
Danton  and  his  fiiends  had  been  for  some  time 
past  "  lying  low."  Danton  himself  had  been  away 
at  his  home  at  Arcis,  whence  he  was  recalled  by 
his  political  associates.  The  latter,  with  the 
approval  of  their  leader,  started  a  journal  vehe- 
mently hostile  to  the  Hebertists  and  the  Terror, 
which  was  edited  and  mostly  written  by  Camille 
Desmouhns.  It  was  called  Le  vieiLV  Cordelier,  in 
allusion  to  the  CordeUers  Club  in  the  old  days  when 
Danton  was  its  moving  spirit.     In  their  campaign 


42  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

against  the  Terror,  the  Dantonists  hoped  to  find 
support  in  the  Convention,  but,  as  events  proved, 
they  were  relying  on  a  broken  reed.  Robespierre 
and  his  party  had  now  two  enemies  to  contend 
with.  On  the  one  hand  he  had  the  Enrages,  as 
they  were  termed,  namely,  the  Hebertists,  and  on 
the  other  the  Pacivists,  that  is,  Danton  and  his 
friends.  It  was  not  part  of  Robespierre's  purpose, 
or  that  of  his  committee,  to  relax  the  Terror  at 
this  moment.  On  the  other  hand,  Robespierre  was 
much  concerned  that  the  handling  of  the  system 
of  the  Terror  should  not  get  into  the  control  of  his 
Extremist  enemies  on  the  opposite  side. 

Early  in  March  matters  reached  a  climax.  One 
or  other  of  the  two  rival  powers  had  to  succumb. 
The  only  course  for  the  Hebertists  and  the  Cordeliers 
lay  in  a  successful  insurrection,  which  would  break 
the  power  of  the  committee  and  of  Robespierre. 
The  beginnings  of  an  attempt  were  made,  but  mis- 
carried. A  panic  seemed  to  seize  the  Cordeliers, 
and  no  more  active  measures  were  taken.  Robes- 
pierre had  now  the  upper  hand,  and  lost  no  time 
in  having  the  leaders  of  the  "  Hebertist  faction  " 
arrested  and  dragged  before  the  Revolutionary 
Tribunal,  there  to  be  charged  with  conspiring  to 
destroy  the  Revolution  by  discrediting  it  through 
the  excesses  of  their  doctrines  and  policy. 

Accordingly,  on  March  the  24th,  the  leaders  of 
the  Extremist  party,  Hebert,  Ronsin,  and  Momoro, 


m.~^      ■  ,     ■„,,,,  ,,   .,.,      .  i,,,....^... 


INTRODUCTION  43 

with   others,  went   to   the    guillotine,   Chaumette 
following   a   few   days    later.     The    revolutionary 
army  was  disbanded,  and  the  Commune  reorganised 
and    filled    with    the    creatures    of    Robespierre. 
Having    crushed    his    Extremist    rivals,    it    only 
remained  for  Robespierre  to  destroy  his  Moderate 
foes.     This  followed  with  little  delay.     On  March 
the   30th,  DesmouHns,  Philippeaux,  and  Wester- 
mann,  with  other  friends  of  Danton,  were  arrested. 
Danton  himself  in  vain  attempted  to  get  a  hearing 
in  the  Convention,  Robespierre  effectually  succeed- 
ing in  closing  his  mouth.     On  April  the  3rd  he, 
together   with   the    members    of    his    party,   was 
brought  before  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal,  where 
he  defended  himself  with  such  vigour  that  Robes- 
pierre had  to  extort  a  decree  from  the  Convention 
depriving  the  accused  of  the  right  of  speech.     Two 
days  later  Danton  and  the  remaining  Dantonists 
were  sent  to  the  guillotine. 

The  power  of  Robespierre  was  now  supreme. 
His  next  thought  was  the  foundation  of  a  deistic 
cult,  of  which  he  himself  was  to  be  the  sovereign 
pontiff,  as  a  counterblast  to  the  atheistic  worship 
of  Reason  inaugurated  by  the  Hebertists.  The 
Convention  obediently  voted  his  instructions  in 
this  respect,  and  the  Festival  of  the  Supreme 
Being  was  held  on  June  the  8th,  1794,  in  the 
Tuileries  gardens,  the  principal  features  of  the 
ceremony  being   an   oration   from   the  high-priest 


44  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

Robespierre,  following  which  he  set  fire  to  certain 
stage-property  figures  constructed  to  represent 
atheism  and  other  doctrines  of  the  Hebertists 
that  he  disliked.  The  Convention,  which  at 
Robespierre's  behest  had  shortly  before  decreed 
the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being  and  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  was,  two  days  after  the  festival 
in  honour  of  these  dogmas,  called  upon  by  the 
same  dictator  to  pass  the  celebrated  law  of 
Prairial,  which  enacted  that  no  prisoner  haled 
before  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal  should  have  the 
right  of  any  defence  whatever. 

The  next  weeks  saw  a  frightful  increase  in  the 
activity  of  the  guillotine,  which  every  day  received 
its  holocausts.  But  at  the  same  time  an  under- 
current of  fear  and  detestation  and  indeterminate 
revolt  was  rising  higher  and  higher  every  day. 
JMeanwhile,  on  the  26th  June,  the  battle  of  Fleurus 
was  won  by  General  Jourdan,  and  the  enemy 
driven  from  the  Austrian  Netherlands.  Thus  was 
France  freed  from  danger,  and  the  last  point  of 
her  threatened  frontiers  relieved.  The  imminent 
danger  of  a  foreign  invasion  was  now  definitely 
conjured,  and  therewith  the  main  excuse  for  the 
institution  of  the  "  Terror "'  crumbled  to  pieces. 
But  nevertheless  the  Terror  continued. 

At  last  the  reckoning  came.  It  was  on  the  9th 
of  Thermidor  (27th  of  July)  1794.  Robespierre, 
feeling  himself  with  his  Uttle   group   of  satellites 


INTRODUCTION  45 

daily  becoming  more  and  more  isolated  amid  the 
hatred  and  imperfectly  suppressed  revolt  of  Con- 
vention and  committee  men,  on  the  8th  of  Thermi- 
dor  (July  the  26th)  appeared  in  the  Convention  after 
a   long   absence,  with   a   violent   and   threatening 
speech,  demanding  powers  to  purge  the  Convention 
and  the  committees  alike.     This,  after  a  moment's 
hesitation  on  the  part  of  the  Convention,  started  the 
open  revolt  against  the  Robespierrian  dictatorship. 
At  the  sitting  of  the  following  day,  Robespierre  and 
his  partisans,  including  his  brother,  Couthon,  St  Just, 
and  Lebas,  were  decreed   accused.     In   the   early 
morning  of  the  28th.  Robespierre  and  his  partisans 
were  surrounded  in  the  Hotel  de  Ville.     At  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon   Robespierre  himself  and 
the   other  chiefs  of  the  Robespierrian  faction  fell 
beneath  the  guillotine.     Thus  ended  the  celebrated 
revolution  of  the  9th  of  Thermidor  (27th  of  July), 
year  II.  (1794).     The  immediate  upshot  was  the 
end  of  the  system  of  the  Terror,  soon  followed  by 
serious    modifications   in    the    public    authorities. 
Various   economic    measures   passed   by  the  Con- 
vention to  relieve  distress,  among  them  the  Law 
of  Maximum,  were  repealed   during   the   ensuing 
months.    The  Jacobin  Club  was  closed  in  November, 
and  the  Convention  began  steadily  and  unmistak- 
ably to  enter  the  pathway  of  reaction. 

It  was  now,  during  this  autumn  of  1794,  that 
the  great  political  activity  of  Gracchus  Babeuf  in 


46  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

Paris  began,  and  began  in  the  sense  of  the  Ther- 
midoreans,  as  the  makers  of  the  recent  revolution 
were  termed.  The  earher  period  of  his  Paris 
journalism  was  signalised,  as  the  reader  will  see, 
by  vehement  attacks  on  the  fallen  regime  of  the 
Terror  and  all  connected  with  it.  His  subsequent 
change  of  opinions  in  this  connection  must  be 
directly  attributed  to  the  reactionary  character 
assumed  by  the  new  government,  which  was 
manned  by  Thermidoreans,  and  by  the  Conven- 
tion itself,  dominated,  as  it  was,  by  the  members 
of  the  same  party  and  other  reactionary  elements, 
such  as  the  remnants  of  the  Girondin  faction 
which  were  allowed  to  regain  possession  of  their 
seats  in  the  national  legislature.  With  his  grow- 
ing bitterness  towards  the  new  authorities  and 
the  daily  increasing  reaction  generally,  moreover, 
grew  Babeuf's  clearness  of  vision  as  to  the  ends 
he  ultimately  had  in  view.  The  Constitution  of 
1793,  and  the  other  political  objects  for  which  he 
strove,  he  now  regarded  merely  as  a  means  towards 
a  communistic  state  of  society,  which  was  neces- 
sarily conceived  by  him  under  the  only  guise 
possible  for  a  man  of  the  eighteenth  century  to 
envisage  it. 


CHAPTER  I 

ORIGIN    AND    YOUTH    OF    BABEUF 

Francois  Noel  Babeuf,  it  has  now  been  decided 
by  the  researches  of  M.  Victor  Advielle,  was  born  at 
St  Quentin,  on  Sunday  the  23rd  November  1760. 
Babeuf,  in  some  of  the  7iotes  intimes  which  the 
industry  of  the  same  investigator  has  unearthed, 
states,  that  he  was  born  of  so  dehcate  a  constitu- 
tion that  he  was  not  expected  to  Hve.  This  he 
attributes  to  the  poor  circumstances  of  his  parents, 
and  the  privations  of  his  mother  during  her  preg- 
nancy. Babeufs  father  appears  to  have  been 
many  years  older  than  his  mother.  The  former  is 
described  in  the  certificate  of  birth  as  "  employe 
des  fermes  du  roy  an  Faubourg  St  JNIartin  de  la 
ville  de  St  Quentin,"  of  which  town  his  mother 
was  also  a  native.  There  is  little  doubt,  however, 
that  they  originally  came  from  the  small  town  of 
Bobeuf,  or  Baboeuf,  in  Picardy,  in  the  present 
department  of  the  Oise.  This  commune  is  stated 
to  have  been  founded  by  a  descendant  of  the 
family  of  Calvin,  to  have  been  peopled  by  a  colony 

47 


48  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

of  Protestant  refugees  from  various  quarters,  and 
to  have  maintained  relations  with  other  similar 
Calvinist  colonies,  all  composed  of  peasant  culti- 
vators. 

It  is  related  of  Babeuf  s  father  that,  on  account 
of  his  abilities,  he  was  in  his  younger  days  deputed 
by  the  members  of  the  colony  to  undertake  some 
negotiations  in  various  foreign  countries  with  a 
view  to  the  union  of  the  Lutheran  and  Calvinist 
sects,  but  his  mission  proving  a  failure,  he  took 
service  in  the  troops  of  INIaria  Theresa,  where  he 
attained  the  rank  of  major  under  the  name  of 
I'Epine  Babeuf,  and  that  he  was  subsequently 
appointed  tutor  to  the  children  of  Maria  Theresa. 
It  is  further  related  that  in  after  years  the 
Emperor  Joseph  II.,  as  he  happened  to  be  passing 
through  Picardy,  became  acquainted  with  the  son 
of  his  former  major,  the  hero  of  this  book,  to  whom 
he  made  the  most  brilliant  offers  of  employment 
at  the  Court  of  Vienna.  Francois  Noel's  severe 
democratic  principles,  even  at  that  date,  induced 
him  resolutely  to  decline  them.  These  details 
are  taken  from  some  manuscript  notes  respect- 
ing his  youth,  written  by  Babeuf  at  the  close 
of  his  life.  Considering  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
philosophic  Emperor  Joseph  II.  for  the  very  same 
revolutionary  ideas  to  which  Babeuf  himself  was 
devoted,  and  his  expressed  intention,  as  related 
in  these  same  memorial  notes,  of  using  his  power 


ORIGIN   AND    YOUTH   OF   BABEUF    49 

to  carry  these  ideas  into  effect,  the  rigid  refusal  of 
Babeuf  to  accept  employment  under  him  seems 
strange,  and,  taking  all  the  circumstances  into  con- 
sideration, not  a  little  improbable,  more  especially 
when  we  consider  the  immaturity  of  Babeufs 
revolutionary  principles  at  that  time.  One  is  in- 
clined to  suspect  some  exaggeration  or  distortion 
of  the  facts,  probably  unintentional,  in  Babeufs 
account  of  his  relations  with  Joseph  II. 

Babeuf  speaks  of  his  father,  Claude  Babeuf,  as 
of  a  man  "  as  proud  as  a  Castilian,  always  count- 
ing himself  rich  and  happy  even  in  the  midst  of 
profound  misery."  He  never,  he  says,  "  went  to  a 
wine  shop,  but  delighted  on  rare  occasions  to  don 
his  soldier's  uniform,  which  he  carefully  preserved, 
together  with  his  formidable  sabre,  which  he 
handled  with  the  greatest  ease  and  dexterity." 
He  taught  his  son  the  elements  of  Latin,  mathe- 
matics, and  of  the  German  language. 

When  about  fifteen  years  of  age,  Francois  Noel 

entered   the    service,    as  junior    clerk,   of  a   land 

commissioner,    who    taught    him   land    surveying. 

Two  years  later  it  is  stated  that  he  became  attached 

to  a  landowner,  near  the  small  town  of  Roye  in 

Picardy.     The  elder  Babeuf  appears  to  have  died 

some   time   in    1781,    and   henceforth   his   mother 

and  sisters  became  the  charge  of  Francois  Noel. 

He  kept  them  for  over  sixteen  years.     Old  Claude 

Babeuf,   we   are   told,   on    his    deathbed,   handed 

4 


50  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

to  his  son,  as  a  last  gift,  a  well-worn  copy  of 
Plutarch's  Lives,  telling  him  that  the  book  had 
been  his  solace  throughout  the  joys  and  sorrows 
of  his  life.  He  continued  to  press  upon  his  son 
to  study  the  lives  of  the  great  men  of  antiquity. 
"  As  for  me,"  he  went  on  to  say,  "  I  could  have 
wished  to  have  resembled  Caius  Gracchus,  even 
though  I  were  doomed  to  perish  like  him  and  his 
for  the  greatest  of  all  causes,  the  cause  of  the 
common  welfare  ;  but  circumstances  have  not  been 
favourable  to  the  accomplishment  of  my  designs." 
Expressing  his  conviction  that  his  son  would 
follow  in  his  steps  :  "  Swear,"  said  he,  "  upon  this 
sword,  that  has  never  yet  departed  from  the  path 
of  honour,  never  to  abandon  the  interests  of  the 
people,  which  are  everything,  and  to  pour  out,  if 
need  be,  the  last  drop  of  your  blood  to  enlighten 
and  defend  this  downtrodden  race."  The  oath 
on  the  sword  was  taken  as  desired. 

On  the  13th  of  November  1782,  young  Babeuf 
married  one  of  the  lady's  maids  of  the  Countess 
in  whose  husband's  service  he  was.  His  wife  was 
a  native  of  Amiens,  of  poor  parents,  and  seems  to 
have  been,  to  a  great  extent  at  least,  illiterate. 
Babeuf  afterwards  called  her  "  a  woman  of  nature." 
Soon  afterwards  Babeuf  found  a  position  at  Noyon 
in  connection  with  land  administration.  The 
following  year,  after  the  birth  of  his  first  child,  he 
again  removed  to  the  town  of  Roye,  where  he  soon 


ORIGIN   AND   YOUTH   OF   BABEUF    51 

obtained  a  similar  position  as  land-commissioner,^ 
the  highest  he  had  yet  held,  which  was  confirmed 
to  him  by  letters  patent. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-five,  Francois  Noel  Babeuf 
thus  found  himself  in  a  position,  not  only  fairly 
remunerative,  but  involving  a  certain  social  standing. 
He  was  by  this  time  a  prosperous  father  of  a  family, 
the  head  of  an  office,  with  clerks  employed  under 
him,  and  with  leisure  enough  to  devote  himself 
to  literary  pursuits  and  public  affairs.  During 
these  years  Babeuf  had  relations  with  the  Academie 
Royale  des  belles  lettres  at  Arras.  The  Academy 
of  Arras  was  one  of  the  numerous  literary  societies 
that  sprang  up  in  the  course  of  the  eighteenth 
century  in  most  French  towns  of  any  importance, 
one  of  the  functions  of  which  was  to  start  com- 
petitions for  the  solution  of  given  questions.  As 
is  well  known,  Rousseau's  first  important  essay  in 
literary  composition  was  the  attempted  solution  of 
a  problem  put  forward  for  competition  by  a  similar 
society  at  an  earlier  date. 

In  1785  the  Arras  Academy  started  the  follow- 
ing question  : — "  Is  it  advantageous  to  reduce  the 
number  of  roads  in  the  territories  of  the  villages  of 

1  There  seems  to  be  some  difficulty  in  ascertaining  the  status 
of  Babeuf,  or  the  precise  nature  of  the  office  he  held  in  the 
French  bureaucratic  system  of  the  ancien  regime.  The  exact 
title  of  Babeuf  s  office  was  "  Commissaire  a  Terrier/'  the 
"Terrier"  being  a  kind  of  "Domesday"  of  the  various  feudal 
holdings  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  French  monarchy. 


52     ^  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

the  province  of  Artois,  and  to  give  to  those  preserved 
a  breadth  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  be  planted 
with  trees  ?  Indicate,  in  the  case  of  the  affirmative, 
the  means  of  effectuating  such  reduction."  Babeuf 
was  one  of  the  first  to  enter  the  lists  as  candidate, 
and  sent  in  his  paper  on  the  25th  November  1785. 
In  spite  of  his  practical  knowledge  of  matters 
connected  with  the  subject  in  question,  the  paper 
was  among  those  rejected  by  the  society.  The 
incident,  however,  was  the  occasion  of  a  friend- 
ship and  correspondence,  which  lasted  some  years, 
with  Dubois  de  Fosseux,  the  secretary  of  the 
society,  who,  twenty  years  older  than  Babeuf, 
came,  in  course  of  time,  to  seek  his  opinion  on  all 
subjects. 

Fosseux  seemed  to  have  been  immediately 
struck  with  Babeufs  capacity,  and  wrote  him  a 
friendly  letter,  suggesting  he  should  continue  his 
efforts  to  obtain  recognition  by  the  society.  He, 
however,  would  not  appear  to  have  been^  person 
remarkable  for  tact — and  proceeded,  in  the  ensuing 
letters,  to  inflict  upon  Babeuf  posers  entirely  out 
of  the  range  of  his  line  of  thought,  such  as, 
"Why  are  negroes  born  black  f"  '•  AVhich  is 
the  more  happy  in  the  social  order,  the  sensitive 
man  or  the  apathetic  man  { "  and  so  forth.  At 
the  same  time  he  loaded  Babeuf  with  effusions  of 
his  own,  poetical  and  otherwise.  Notwithstanding 
the   correspondents   indulged   in    mutual    flattery. 


ORIGIN* AND   YOUTH   OF   BABEUF    53 

they  were  not  always  in  accord.  Fosseux  found 
some  verses,  sent  to  him  by  Babeuf,  not  fit  to  be 
read  before  ladies  "with  delicate  nerves."  To 
this  the  future  Tribune  of  the  people  suggests 
that  they  might  be  furtively  brought  under  the 
notice  "of  robust  men,  who  might  acquire  fresh 
force  from  them." 

In    March    1787    Babeuf    makes   an   appeal   to 
Fosseux  to  circulate  a  bi^ocliure  entitled  La  Con- 
stitution du    Corps-militaire   en   France,   dans   ses 
rapports  avec  celle   du   Gouvernement   et   avec  le 
caractere  National,  of  which  he  sends  him  a  copy. 
He   say^  that   it   is   written   by   a   person   of  his 
acquaintance,   who  was   particularly  anxious  that 
it  should  be  widely  read  in  the  town  of  Arras. 
The  work  was  of  a  distinctly  revolutionary  char- 
acter,   criticising    severely   the   aristocratic    caste- 
system  of  grades  in  the  French  army,  by  which 
all   the    higher    positions   were   in   the    hands   of 
courtiers  and  aristocrats ;  and  also  advocates  the 
convocation    of  an    assembly   of    the    people,   to 
which  the  king  should  be  responsible  for  his  acts, 
and  which  should  be  the  ultimate  court  of  appeal. 
M.,  Advielle  would  attribute   this   little   work  to 
Babeuf  himself;  but,  although  this  may  be  so,  no 
conclusive  evidence  as  to  authorship  is  adducible. 
Fosseux  acknowledges  the  receipt  of  the  book,  with 
compliments  to  the  anonymous  author,  in  his  usual 
effusive  style ;  but  a  little  later  he  writes  "  that  it 


54  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

has  been  impossible  for  him  to  find  anyone  to 
undertake  its  distribution."  "All  our  booksellers," 
he  says,  "  fear  to  compromise  themselves  with  the 
police,  and,  in  my  capacity  as  sheriff,  it  would  be 
equally  unsuitable  for  me  to  become  the  distributor, 
since,  from  beginning  to  end,  it  does  not  cease  to 
attack  the  government.  For  the  rest,  the  work 
seems  to  me  to  be  well  put  together,  excellently 
written,  and  very  interesting.  I  should  be  ex- 
tremely flattered  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the 
author,  who  is  assuredly  a  man  of  much  spirit  and 
merit.  In  these  circumstances,  JNIonsieur,  and  not 
having  better  fulfilled  my  commission,  I  feel  bound 
to  return  to  you  the  copy  you  confided  to  me.  I 
have  been  well  recompensed  for  the  little  trouble  I 
have  taken  by  the  pleasure  I  have  had  in  reading  it." 
It  is  curious  that  in  the  very  same  letter  in 
which  he  shirks  the  danger  of  helping  to  circulate 
La  ConditutioJi  du  Corps-militaire,  Fosseux  is  en- 
thusiastic over  the  project  of  a  book  bearing  the 
title  Le  Changcment  du  monde  entier.  It  was  to 
be  divided  into  six  parts  :  the  first  to  contain  a 
detailed  table  of  the  misery  afflicting  the  society  of 
the  day,  "of  the  abuses,  the  disorders,  the  calamities, 
the  wrongs,  the  injustices,  the  bankruptcies,  the 
subjects  of  despair,  the  brigandages,  the  thefts,  the 
assassinations,  the  crimes  and  horrors  of  all  sorts, 
which  take  place  "  ;  the  second  was  to  contain  the 
cause  of  these  evils  ;  the  third,  to  expound  principles 


ORIGIN   AND   YOUTH   OF   BABEUF    55 

and  preliminary  notions  ;  the  fourth,  the  expedients, 
means,  and  regulations  by  which  "  all  citizens  who 
are  in  necessity,  or  who  only  enjoy  a  modest  fortune, 
may,  together  ^vith  their  wives  and  children,  be  in 
the  future  well  nourished,  clothed,  lighted,  and 
warmed,  receive  a  perfect  education,  and  enjoy,  by 
means  of  their  honest  labour,  each  according  to  his 
or  her  strength,  abilities,  sex,  age,  talent,  trade,  or 
profession,  much  more  ease,  liberty,  justice,  com- 
fort, and  advantage  than  nowadays."  The  fifth 
section  should  deal  with  the  means  of  procuring 
at  once  an  adequate  sum  of  money  without  the 
imposition  of  taxes  on  the  peoples !  The  sixth 
should  consist  of  a  reply  to  all  objections. 

This  syllabus,  sketched  out  by  Dubois  de  Fosseux, 
is  not  only  noteworthy  as  showing  the  beginnings  of 
Utopian  Socialism,  which  had  been  already  formu- 
lated in  Morelly's  Le  Code  de  la  nature,  published 
in  1755,  though  at  first  attributed  to  Diderot.  But 
what  is  especially  interesting  is  the  fact,  that  the 
Utopian  scheme  which  so  fascinated  his  friend 
Fosseux,  in  spite  of  its  suggestion  of  the  programme 
of  the  Equals  of  eight  years  later,  does  not  seem 
to  have  attracted  the  future  "  people's  tribune  "  at 
all  at  this  time.  Writing  a  little  later,  he  treats 
the  supposititious  author  of  the  scheme,  who  may 
well  have  been  Fosseux  himself,  as  "a  mere 
dreamer." 

Early  in  May  of  this  year  Babeuf  went  to  Paris, 


.  ^j^^^'is^^ 


srcrrr 


56  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

on  a  visit  of  a  few  days,  where  he  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  a  rich  merchant  named  AudifFret, 
who  proved  a  true  friend  to  him,  and  to  whose 
purse  he  had  recourse  when,  later  on,  he  found 
himself  abandoned  by  everyone.  At  this  time  he 
started  a  work  on  the  simplification  of  the  land 
register,  but  it  did  not  appear  until  three  years 
later,  when  it  was  associated  with  the  name  of  his 
friend  AudifFret,  who  had  doubtless  contributed  to 
defray  the  cost  of  publication.  Writing  to  a  pro- 
posal of  one  Lemoignan  to  reform  the  magistracy, 
about  this  time,  Babeuf  expresses  himself  as  partisan 
of  a  unified  code  of  law,  which  would  once  for  all 
sweep  away  the  chaos  of  medicEval  customs  and 
regulations,  valid  in  one  province  and  invalid  in 
the  next,  and  would  "procure  for  all  individuals 
indiscriminately,  as  regards  the  blessings  and 
advantages  enjoyed  in  this  lower  world,  an  abso- 
lutely equal  position." 

We  may  regard  this  and  other  expressions  of 
opinion  in  the  correspondence  of  Babeuf  at  this 
time  as  showing  that  the  beginnings  of  the  future 
People's  Tribune,  and  leader  of  the  "  Equals " 
of  1796,  were  already  present  in  the  land-com- 
missioner of  1787.  The  last  letter  in  the  corre- 
spondence between  Fosseux  and  Babeuf  was  by 
the  former,  dated  the  11th  March  1788,  and  com- 
plains of  the  neglect  of  Babeuf  to  return  certain 
literary  pieces  sent,  and  concludes  with  an  urgent 


ORIGIN   AND   YOUTH    OF   BABEUF    57 

wish  that  this  should  be  done  promptly,  even 
though  without  accompanying  letter.  From  what- 
ever reason,  all  relations  between  the  two  cor- 
respondents seem  to  have  abruptly  terminated 
at  this  time.  Up  to  the  present  the  future  Tribune 
had  not  shown  any  marked  signs  of  revolutionary 
sentiment  or  conviction,  beyond  a  few  expressions 
of  opinion  such  as  those  above  quoted — at  least, 
unless  we  are  to  consider  the  Constitution  militaire 
as  coming  from  his  pen. 

Babeuf,  we  gather,  read  but  few  papers,  and 
these  irregularly,  amongst  which  are  mentioned 
Le  Mercure  de  France  and  the  Journal  de  la 
langiie  ff^anfaise.  Neither,  as  far  as  we  can 
see,  was  his  other  reading  of  a  revolutionary 
character.  Coming  into  contact,  however,  in  the 
course  of  his  professional  duties,  it  may  be  men- 
tioned, with  the  king's  Field-Marshal,  the  Comte 
de  Casteja,  who  seems  to  have  treated  him  with 
the  haughtiness  of  the  aristocrat  of  the  ancien 
regime,  Babeuf  had  a  passage  of  arms  with  him,  in 
which  he  defended  himself  with  tact  and  dignity. 

The  year  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution 
found  Babeuf  at  the  zenith  of  his  prosperity  as  a 
land-agent,  with  a  considerable  clientele  among  the 
nobility  and  clergy,  all  of  them  eager  to  avail 
themselves  of  his  knowledge  of  land  tenure  and  of 
his  practical  ability  as  a  business  man.  About 
this   time   he    was    charged   by   the   Prior   of    St 


58  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

Taurin,  a  religious  foundation  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  town  of  Roye,  to  form  an  abstract  of  all 
the  titles  of  the  priory,  together  with  all  possible 
rights  and  privileges  that  could  be  invoked.  The 
work  occupied  him  six  months.  Shortly  after,  he 
also  undertook  important  researches  into  the 
territorial  archives  of  the  Marquis  de  Soyecourt, 
one  of  the  many  nobles  of  the  ancien  regime  who 
had  exhausted  his  available  substance  in  hanging 
round  the  court  at  Versailles,  and  who,  in  spite  of 
his  immense  landed  possessions,  had  at  that  time  the 
not  unusual  aristocratic  notoriety  of  not  paying  any- 
one, not  even  the  innkeepers  to  whose  houses  he 
had  resort  on  his  travels.  As  might  be  expected, 
on  the  termination  of  his  arduous  labours,  Babeuf 
found  his  bill  of  12,000  livres  (francs)  disputed  by 
his  patron,  who  refused  to  hand  over  more  than 
a  hundred  louis,  a  sum  with  which  the  creditor, 
hard  driven  as  he  was,  and  quite  unable  to  risk  the 
expenses  of  a  lawsuit,  had  to  be  content.  The 
affair  absolutely  ruined  Babeuf,  as  it  had  occupied 
all  his  time  for  months,  and  had  in  consequence 
caused  him  to  refuse  several  advantageous  offers  of 
other  work.  In  this  matter  a  certain  influential 
family  of  the  town  of  Roye,  named  Billecocq,  had, 
it  appears,  been  involved.  The  Billecocqs  seem  to 
have  had  an  implacable  hostility  to  Babeuf,  whom 
they  suspected  of  having  done  them  an  evil  turn, 
they  having  lost  their  position  as  attorneys  to  the 


ORIGIN   AND   YOUTH   OF   BABEUF    59 

Marquis  de  Soyecourt,  as  they  imagined,  owing  to 
the  influence  of  Babeuf. 

It  was  now  the  eve  of  the  opening  of  the  world- 
renowned  series  of  events  constituting  the  French 
Revohition ;  and  our  hero,  under  the  combined 
influerfce  of  personal  troubles,  and  of  the  social  and 
political  atmosphere  in  which  he  lived  and  moved, 
was  rapidly  becoming  a  changed  man.  Babeuf,  at 
the  time,  it  should  be  said,  was  the  father  of  an 
increasing  family. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    REVOLUTIONARY   DRAMA    OPENS 

Francois  Noel  Babeuf  was  still  at  Roye  on  the 
convocation  of  the  States-General  in  May  1789. 
He  had  indeed  been  active  at  the  Cahier  of  the 
district  of  Roye.^ 

The  first  article  from  the  pen  of  Babeuf,  which 
proposed  the  abolition  of  feudal  tenures,  and  the 
substitution  of  a  single  tax,  irrespective  of  class,  for 
the  mass  of  existing  imposts,  local  and  national, 
was  sufficient  to  extinguish  his  career  as  Commis- 
saire  a  Terrier.  One  of  the  Billecocqs,  however, 
president  of  the  committee  for  the  reduction  of 
the  Cahiers,  protested,  with  the  result  that  Babeuf  s 
motion  was  rejected. 

The  first  open  revolutionary  act  of  our  hero 
appears  to  have  been  the  part  he  took  in  procuring 

1  It  is  perhaps  scarcely  necessary  to  remind  the  I'eader  that 
the  Cahier  was  the  statement  of  grievances,  and  the  remedies 
demanded,  which  was  drawn  up  by  every  township  and  baihwick 
throughout  the  territories  of  the  French  monarchy,  by  royal 
command,  for  the  consideration  of  the  States-General  when  they 
should  assemble, 

60 


THE   REVOLUTIONARY   DRAMA      61 

the  destruction  of  the  seigniorial  archives  of  the 
neighbouring  territories,  which  were  publicly 
burned  on  the  market-place  at  Roye :  the  details, 
however,  of  this  transaction  are  wanting. 

In  July  1789  Babeuf  made  a  hurried  visit  to 
Paris,  just  in  time  to  be  present  at  the  taking  of 
the  Bastille.  The  following  day  he  returned  to 
Roye,  and  on  his  way  succeeded  in  delivering  a 
noble,  the  Comte  de  Lauraguais,  who  was  besieged 
in  his  castle  by  his  tenants,  after  the  manner  of  the 
time.  Babeuf  succeeded  hi  persuading  the  peasants 
to  disperse.  Among  his  papers  was  found  a  note 
claiming  the  Comte  as  a  good  patron  and  a  friend 
of  the  people.  In  a  few  days  he  returned  to  Paris, 
presumably  after  having  made  his  family  arrange- 
ments, remaining  in  the  capital  until  October. 
This  residence  in  Paris  finally  converted  the  land- 
agent  into  a  thoroughgoing  partisan  of  revolu- 
tionary principles.  Meanwhile  the  letters  to  his 
wife  dealing  with  the  events  consequent  on  the 
fall  of  the  Bastille  are  interesting.  After  describ- 
ing the  parading  of  the  head  of  Foulon  on  a  pike 
in  procession  along  the  Faubourg  St  Martin,  in  the 
midst  of  a  hundred  thousand  spectators,  who  greeted 
it  with  shouts  of  joy,  he  continues  :  "  How  ill  that 
joy  made  me  !  I  was  at  the  same  time  alike  satisfied 
and  ill  content.  I  said,  so  much  the  better  and  so 
much  the  worse !  I  understand  that  the  people 
should  do  justice  for  itself;  I  approve  of  that  justice 


62  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

so  long  as  the  destruction  of  the  guilty  suffices  for  it, 
but  has  it  not  to-day  become  cruel  ?  Punishments 
of  all  kinds — quartering,  torture,  the  wheel,  the 
stake,  the  whip,  the  gibbet,  executions  everywhere 
— have  demoralised  us !  Our  masters,  instead  of 
policing  us,  have  made  us  barbarians,  because  they 
are  such  themselves.  They  reap,  and  will  continue 
to  reap,  what  they  have  sown.  For  all  this,  O  my 
poor  wife !  will  have,  as  far  as  one  can  see,  terrible 
consequences !  We  are  as  yet  only  at  the  begin- 
ning !  "     A  truly  significant  forecast  this. 

The  main  object  of  Babeuf's  visit  to  Paris  was, 
however,  not  political,  but  was  for  the  purpose 
of  getting  further  work  in  connection  with  land- 
agency.  Babeuf  was  not  long  in  coming  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  days  of  his  metier,  in  the  old  sense 
at  least,  were  numbered.  He  heard  everywhere 
indications  that  the  time  of  feudal  chateaux,  of 
seigniorial  rights  and  ecclesiastical  privileges,  was  at 
an  end  ;  but  he  adds,  "  I  am  myself  disposed,  all  the 
same,  to  put  my  shoulder  to  the  wheel,  to  bring 
about  that  which  would  destroy  my  livelihood. 
Egoists  would  call  me  mad,  but  no  matter ! " 

A  further  letter  of  the  16th  August  shows  the 
state  of  impecuniosity  in  which  his  family  were  left. 
He  also  speaks  of  his  working  with  M.  Audiffret 
upon  the  land  register  before  referred  to.  He 
further  alludes  to  his  hope  of  getting  some  employ- 
ment in  Paris.     At  this  time  he  published  a  small 


THE   REVOLUTIONARY   DRAMA      63 

pamphlet  entitled,  La  nouvelle  distinction  des  ordres 
par  M.  de  Mirabeau.  For  Mirabeau,  Babeuf 
appears  to  have  had  as  great  a  dislike  and  distrust 
as  that  other  tribune  of  the  people,  Jean  Paul 
Marat. 

]Mean  while,  Babeuf  s  wife  seems  to  have  written 
him  heartrending  letters  on  the  state  of  the  family 
economically  at  Roye ;  and  we  find  that  he  has  to 
ask  assistance,  in  the  shape  of  money  borrowed 
from  his  friend  M.  AudifFret. 

Apart  from  the  work  in  land  registration  before 
mentioned,  Babeuf  was  already  considerably  occu- 
pied with  AudifFret  in  connection  with  what  is 
described  as  a  new  mathematical  instrument  called 
the  Graphometre-Trigonometrique,  to  which  was 
added,  a  little  later,  another  instrument  called  the 
Cyclometre,  designed  to  supplement  the  functioning 
of  the  former.  The  precise  nature  of  these  instru- 
ments it  is  impossible  now  to  determine,  though  it 
appears  they  were  intended  to  be  used  in  land 
surveying.  But,  in  any  case,  nothing  seems  to  have 
come  of  the  invention  in  the  shape  of  profit  to  the 
inventors,  and  its  subsequent  fate  rests  in  obscurity. 
At  last  the  Cadastre  perpetuel,  which  Babeuf  had 
begun  some  years  before,  and  which  was  a  kind  of 
"cast-ofF"  of  the  territorial  division  and  conditions 
of  land  tenure  throughout  France,  was  completed. 
Babeuf's  son,  Emile  Babeuf,  claims  that  this  work 
"  fixed   the   mode  for  the  division  of  the  depart- 


64  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

ments,  but  brought  nothing  to  its  author,"  referring, 
of  course,  to  the  cutting  up  of  the  old  French 
provinces  into  departments  by  the  Constituent 
Assembly. 

It  may  be  mentioned  that  about  this  time 
Francois  Noel  took  the  additional  name  of  Camille, 
for  what  reason  it  does  not  appear.  His  family 
still  remained  at  Roye,  and  seem  to  have  been  left 
very  much  to  themselves. 

The  year  1790  was  an  active  one  for  Babeuf. 
We  find  him  in  April  at  Xoyon,  in  May  at  St 
Quentin,  and  in  July  in  Paris  at  the  great  fete 
of  the  Confederation.  He  was  very  diligent  in 
his  adopted  town  of  Roye  during  this  year, 
drawing  up  petitions  to  the  Assembly,  and  re- 
dacting the  proclamations  of  the  municipal  council. 
He  appears  to  have  come  into  collision,  notwith- 
standing, with  the  municipality  respecting  a 
pamphlet  claiming  taxation  according  to  means, 
which  he  was  accused  of  having  had  printed  and 
circulated  by  the  official  machinery  of  the  muni- 
cipality without  its  authorisation. 

He  also  agitated  among  the  cabaretiers  (wine- 
shop keepers),  urging  them  to  resist  their  taxa- 
tion, and  had  in  consequence  a  decree  of  arrest 
launched  against  him,  w^hich,  however,  was  not 
acted  upon.  His  local  popularity  was  now  be- 
coming great,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  had  to 
encounter   the   hostility   of   his   old   enemies,   the 


THE    REVOLUTIONAKY   DRAMA      65 

Billecocq  family,  who  succeeded  in  making  any 
continuance  of  his  old  profession  impossible  in  the 
district.  He  now  definitely  abandoned  his  old 
means  of  livelihood,  and  started  upon  a  career  of 
political  journalism,  founding,  with  a  friend  who 
was  a  printer  at  Noyon,  a  journal,  having  for  its 
title  Le  Correspondant  Picard.  Forty  numbers  in 
all  appeared,  and,  according  to  a  statement  of  his, 
brought  him  two  hundred  lawsuits  in  six  months  ! 
A  certain  strict  patriot  took  Babeuf  severely  to 
task  for  calling  his  journal  Le  Coii'espondant 
Picard,  objecting  that  there  was  no  longer  a 
Picardy,  the  new  regime  only  recognising  the 
departments  of  the  Somme,  Oise,  and  Aisne.  The 
paper,  it  is  needless  to  say,  was  nevertheless 
thoroughly  revolutionary,  and  was  not  wanting  in 
the  profusion  of  classical  allusions  and  references  to 
Roman  history  so  characteristic  of  the  time. 

Probably  in  the  above-mentioned  lawsuits  was  in- 
cluded a  criminal  prosecution  for  one  of  his  articles 
in  connection  with  which  we  find  him  in  prison  at 
the  beginning  of  July  1790.  He  was  released, 
however,  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  festival  of 
the  Federation,  the  anniversary  of  the  taking  of 
the  Bastille,  the  14th  of  July,  owing  to  the 
pressure  brought  to  bear  on  the  authorities  by 
Marat.  In  an  article  in  the  Ami  du  Peuple  of 
July  4th,  INIarat  claims  the  release  of  the  "  Sieur 
Babeuf,"  then  lying  in  gaol  for  a  press  offence. 


66  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

Accused  by  an  aristocrat  of  being  a  turncoat,  of 
having  become  the  most  vehement  enemy  of  every 
remnant  of  the  feudal  system  after  having  gained 
his  hving  as  a  feudaHst  and  a  seigniorial  agent, 
Babeuf  replied,  that  in  his  youth  he  did  not  reason  ; 
since  then  he  had  believed  that  all  that  was  ought 
to  be — that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  that  there 
should  be  persecutors  and  persecuted ;  until  recently, 
therefore,  he  stood  in  awe  of  his  "mother,  the 
feudal  system,"  but  since  he  had  become  a  man, 
since  "  the  sun  of  the  Revolution  "  had  enlightened 
him,  he  perceived  that  this  mother  was  a  "  hydra 
with  a  hundred  heads." 

Neither  his  journal  nor  any  other  occupation 
that  he  then  had  proved  sufficient  to  keep  Babeuf 
and  his  family  in  the  necessaries  of  life.  Hence,  in 
September  1792,  he  was  glad  to  accept  the  post 
offered  him  of  administrator  and  archivist  of  the 
department  of  the  Somme,  and  he  finally  left 
Roye.  His  position  brought  him  to  Amiens,  where 
he  settled  down  for  the  time  being,  but  where  he 
found  a  formidable  rival  from  Roye,  a  representative 
of  the  people,  a  certain  Andre  Dumonge.  The 
rivalry  developed  into  a  quarrel  between  the  two 
men,  in  which  Babeuf  got  the  worst  of  it  and  had  to 
leave.  He  succeeded,  notwithstanding,  in  obtain- 
ing a  similar  if  somewhat  inferior  post  in  the  district 
of  Montdidier.  Here,  however,  he  was  still  more 
unfortunate  than  at  Amiens.     The  president  of  the 


^rr — ... ^^ 


THE   REVOLUTIONARY    DRAMA      67 

district  was  an  extreme  royalist  and  aristocrat, 
whom,  it  was  said,  though  the  details  are  want- 
ing, Babeuf  saved  on  one  occasion  from  the 
fury  of  the  populace.  Whether  this  be  true  or 
not,  the  man  seems  to  have  nourished  a  personal 
grudge  against  Babeuf,  either  from  political  or 
private  reasons,  and  to  have  only  waited  for  an 
opportunity  of  serving  him  a  bad  turn.  Babeuf 
found  himself  accused  one  day  of  having  substituted 
one  name  for  another  in  an  act  of  sale  of  one  of  the 
national  lands ;  for  his  position  involved  a  great 
amount  of  work  in  connection  with  the  repartition 
and  sale  of  the  nationalised  property  of  the  Church. 
Babeuf  immediately  repaired  to  Amiens  to  justify 
himself  for  what  was  undoubtedly  due  to  an 
accidental  negligence,  but  there  he  was  at  once 
arrested  on  the  charge  of  forgery  in  connection 
with  the  affair.  Probably  aware  that  he  was  not 
likely  to  have  a  fair  trial,  Babeuf  profited  by  an 
opportunity  which  offered  itself  for  escape  from 
his  ffaolers.  The  trial  continued  all  the  same,  and 
many  months  later,  on  the  23rd  of  August  1793, 
Babeuf  was  condemned,  in  contumaciam,  to  twenty 
years'  penal  servitude. 

He  had,  however,  fled  to  Paris,  whence  he  writes, 
under  date  24th  February  1794,  relating  the  steps 
he  was  taking  with  the  minister  concerned,  with  a 
view  to  saving  his  honour.  He  justly  ridicules  the 
absurdity   of  the   accusation  of  his   having  made 


68  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

money  by  forgery,  calling  to  witness  the  indigence 
of  himself  and  his  family.  He  states  that  an 
American  named  Fournier  is  giving  him  a  little 
literary  work ;  that  he  is  also  undertaking  the 
presentation  of  a  petition  for  the  said  Fournier. 

Meanwhile,  Babeufs  family,  that  he  had  left  at 
jNlontdidier,  were  indeed  in  terrible  straits,  every- 
where in  debt,  with  clamorous  creditors  on  all 
sides.  On  the  6th  of  ^larch  we  find  Mme.  Babeuf 
compelled  to  compound  for  her  liabilities  by 
abandoning  the  whole  of  her  furniture. 

Just  at  this  time,  however.  Babeuf  again  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  an  appointment,  on  this  occasion 
in  connection  with  the  Commune  of  Paris,  as 
secretary  to  the  Administration  of  Subsistence. 
His  wife  and  family  now  came  to  join  him  in  Paris. 
At  the  Bureau  des  Subsistances,  on  which  he  was 
engaged,  Babeuf  discovered  a  great  deal  of  pecula- 
tion, or  at  least  a  gi'eat  deal  of  leakage  in  the 
accounts.  This  may  well  have  been  the  work  of 
subordinates,  and  unknown  to  the  authorities. 
Babeuf,  however,  got  it  into  his  head  that  it  was 
the  result  of  a  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  those  in 
high  places  to  produce  an  artificial  famine.  He 
thereupon  denounced  certain  prominent  persons  to 
the  Paris  sections,  and  the  latter  ordered  the  publica- 
tion of  the  reports  of  Babeuf,  and  an  investigation 
into  the  charges  through  a  commission,  which  was, 
however,  suppressed  by   the  government  {i.e.  the 


THE   REVOLUTIONARY   DRAMA      69 

Committee  of  Public  Safety).  The  many  influential 
enemies  he  had  raised  up  in  Paris  in  connection 
with  this  affair  were  probably  responsible  for  the 
speedy  success  of  the  Montdidier  authorities  in 
obtaining  his  arrest,  with  a  view  to  his  being 
delivered  over  to  them  as  a  prisoner. 

Babeuf,  his  wife  and  family,  now  lived  at  27  Porte 
St  Honord.  It  was  here  that  he  was  arrested, 
and,  together  with  the  clerks  of  the  Bureau  des 
Subsistances,  imprisoned  in  the  Abbaye.  Babeuf 
himself  was  some  weeks  later  sent  to  take  his  trial 
before  the  criminal  tribunal  of  the  Aisne  on  the 
old  charge  of  forgery,  but  on  a  fresh  indictment. 
On  the  28th  Floreal  (18th  of  July  1794),  however, 
the  judges  of  the  supreme  tribunal  of  the  Aisne, 
at  Laon,  on  examination  of  the  evidence,  unani- 
mously declared  that  there  was  no  case  on  which 
to  proceed  against  the  accused.  Thus  Babeufs 
honour  was  finally  rehabilitated.  The  whole 
business  would  seem  to  have  been  originally  plotted 
by  various  political  and  personal  enemies  of  Babeuf 
in  Picardy.  Several  royalist  members  of  the  Roye 
municipal  council  appear  to  have  been  implicated. 
Add  to  this,  that  the  friends  of  various  emigrant 
aristocrats  from  the  district  of  JNIontdidier,  whose 
domains  were  therefore  forfeited  to  the  nation,  were 
naturally  anxious  to  throw  every  obstacle  they  could 
in  the  way  of  their  partition  and  sale,  while  the 
commissioner   Babeuf  was  not  less  zealous  in  his 


70  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

determination  to  bring  to  naught  their  aristocratic 
intrigues  to  rob  the  nation  of  its  newly  acquired 
property. 

After  his  acquittal,  Babeuf  returned  to  Paris 
at  the  time  that  Robespierre  was  still  remain- 
ing in  power.  Here,  however,  he  seems  to  have 
been  content  to  "lie  low"  politically,  thereby 
escaping  the  unpleasant  attentions  of  Robespierre 
and  his  committee.  A  short  time  later  we  find 
him  back  at  Laon,  where  his  son  Emile  was  lying 
dangerously  ill.  He  was  at  Laon  when  the  news 
of  the  Revolution  of  the  9th  Thermidor,  ann.  II. 
(27th  of  July  1794),  and  the  fall  of  Robespierre, 
reached  him.  Babeuf,  on  finding  the  turn  things 
had  taken,  returned  immediately  to  Paris,  where  he 
started  his  Journal  de  la  liberie  de  la  jjresse,  in 
which  he  vehemently  attacked  the  fallen  govern- 
ment, and  the  system  of  the  Terror  generally,  in  the 
interests  of  the  Thermidoreans,  though  it  was  not 
long  before  he  began  to  attack  the  latter  as  vehe- 
mently as  the  former.  In  this  way,  as  we  shall  see, 
Babeuf  stirred  up  fresh  enemies  against  himself, 
and  before  long  landed  himself  once  more  in  gaol. 


-..Jim 


CHAPTER  III 

VICISSITUDES    OF    FORTUNE    AND    RIPENING 
OF    IDEAS 

As  already  stated,  shortly  after  the  fall  of  Robes- 
pierre, Babeuf  reappeared  in  Paris  and  founded 
the  Journal  de  la  liberie  de  la  presse,  in  which 
he  played  the  part  of  political  free  lance,  attacking 
in  turn  the  Robespierrists  and  the  Thermidoreans. 
At  first,  however,  the  whole  of  his  energies  seem 
to  have  been  directed  against  the  party  of  Robes- 
pierre and  the  old  revolutionary  government.  He 
was  indeed  at  this  time  on  terms  of  intimacy 
with  several  of  the  Thermidorean  leaders,  notably 
Tallien  and  Fouche,  who  subsequently  became  his 
bitter  enemies.  Before  long,  however,  his  general 
journalistic  attitude  caused  the  absurd  suspicion 
to  fall  upon  him  of  being  a  royalist  agent  in 
disguise.  This  was  enhanced  by  his  public  speak- 
ing, at  which  he  now  became  very  assiduous,  more 
particularly  in  the  club  of  his  quarter,  where  he 
nightly  attacked  the  authority  of  the  Convention, 
and  especially  the  leading  Thermidoreans.     In  this 

71 


i    L,t  1- 


72  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

way  Babeuf  made  himself  the  enemy  ahke  of  the 
Jacobins  and  of  the  parties  now  dominant  in  the 
Convention.  The  former  were  incensed  by  a 
pamphlet  issued  by  him  at  this  time,  Du  systeme 
de  depopulation  ou  la  vie  et  les  crimes  de  Carrier, 
in  which  the  methods  of  Carrier,  his  noyades, 
republican  marriages,  etc.,  were  denounced  in  the 
most  violent  language. 

The  journal  itself  was  consecrated  to  the  cause 
implied  by  its  name,  and,  as  already  stated,  al- 
though first  directed  mainly  against  the  "  tail  of 
Robespierre,"'  as  the  partisans  of  the  fallen  dictator 
were  now  termed,  soon  took  to  criticising  with 
equal  severity  the  successful  faction  in  the  recent 
struggle.  The  tenth  number  merits  notice,  inas- 
much as  Babeuf  reproduced  therein  the  address  of 
the  popular  society  of  Arras  to  the  National 
Convention,  containing  a  kind  of  manifesto  on  the 
liberty  of  the  press,  coupled  with  a  denunciation 
of  Barere,  the  notorious  ex-member  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety.  As  is  well  known,  it  was 
drawn  up  by  Babeuf  himself.  It  concluded  with  the 
words:  "  Men  of  the  9th  of  Thermidor,  we  declare  be- 
fore you,  on  behalf  of  our  fellow-citizens,  that  they, 
deadened  by  a  long  lethargy,  demand  their  freedom, 
claiming  that  the  fall  of  tyrants  shall  render  to 
us  our  eternal  rights,  that  liberty  shall  step  forth 
in  the  full  glory  of  its  power  from  the  tomb  of  the 
dictator.     Representatives,  the  men  of  the  north, 


III  iHiiBti^Bui 


VICISSITUDES   OF   FORTUNE        73 

who  have  muzzled  that  devouring  ogre,  whose 
furies  have  desolated  our  country  during  five 
months,  will  prove  themselves  raised  to  your  level, 
in  denouncing  to  you  the  revolutionary  phantom 
behind  which  Joseph  Lebon  has  sheltered  himself, 
in  order  to  battle  victoriously  against  the  victims 
who  struggle  to  escape  his  fury.  We  denounce  to 
you  Barere,  that  vile  slave  of  Robespierre."  The 
document  proceeds  to  stigmatise,  in  a  few  phrases, 
the  horrors  of  "  the  Terror  "  as  exercised  at  Arras. 

The  above,  in  the  oratorical  manner  of  the  time, 
is  a  good  specimen  of  Babeuf's  writing,  in  what 
we  may  term  the  "  grand"  style  of  manifesto.  The 
journal  from  the  first  excited  the  adverse  attention 
of  the  authorities,  and  it  had  been  published  little 
more  than  two  months  before  the  violence  of  its 
language  caused  action  to  be  taken  by  the  "  Com- 
mittee of  General  Security,"  and  on  the  13th  of 
October  1794  an  attempt  was  made  to  stop  the 
paper  and  seize  the  person  of  Babeuf.  Warned 
in  time,  however,  he  succeeded  in  hiding  himself, 
and  what  is  more,  from  a  secret  retreat,  in  pub- 
lishing his  paper  under  a  new  title.  It  now 
appeared  as  the  Tribun  du  Peuple.  Otherwise  it 
remained  unchanged,  either  in  shape  or  character, 
being  avowedly  the  continuation  of  the  original 
enterprise. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  a  notable  change 
began    about    this    time    to    take    place    in    the 


74  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

opinions  of  Babeuf  in  regard  to  the  old  revolu- 
tionary^ leaders  and  their  policy.  He  no  longer 
attacked  them  indiscriminately.  We  give  Babeuf  s 
opinion  of  Robespierre  at  this  turning-point  of 
his  career.  "This  Robespierre,"  he  says,  "whose 
memory  to-day  is  unjustly  abhorred,  this  Robes- 
pierre is  one  in  whom  we  must  distinguish 
two  persons — Robespierre  the  sincere  patriot,  a 
friend  of  just  principles  dowTi  to  1793,  and  Robes- 
pierre the  ambitious  tjTant,  and  the  worst  of 
criminals  since  that  epoch.  This  Robespierre,  I 
say,  so  long  as  he  was  a  citizen,  is  perhaps  the 
best  source  in  which  to  seek  great  truths  and 
powerful  arguments  for  the  rights  of  the  press." 
He  goes  on  to  point  out  that  the  declaration  of 
the  Rights  of  Man  the  nation  really  owes  to 
Robespierre.  "  We  cannot  fail  to  esteem  the 
work,"  he  continues,  "  though  we  forget  the  work- 
man," or  ^rather,  as  he  had  already  said,  "  let  us  dis- 
tinguish between  Robespierre  the  apostle  of  liberty, 
and  Robespierre  the  most  infamous  of  tyrants  !  " 

During  this  time  the  paper  seems  to  have 
appeared  mostly  without  the  printer's  name, 
though  the  deputy  GufFroy  was  undoubtedly  the 
printer  of  several  numbers.  Number  33  never 
appeared,  the  manuscript  having  been  seized  by 
the  authorities.  It  contained  a  violent  attack  of 
the  most  convincing  character  on  the  Thermi- 
dorean  reaction.     All   this   time   the   poHce   were 


VICISSITUDES   OF   FORTUNE        75 

unable  to  lay  hands  upon  Babeuf  himself,  but,  in 
revenge,  they  were  zealous  in  arresting  the  dis- 
tributors of  the  journal.  Amongst  these  was  one 
Anne  Treillard,  who  played  a  leading  part  in  the 
distribution.  This  woman  was  subjected  to  a 
close  interrogation  as  to  the  whereabouts  of 
Babeuf.  She  denied  all  knowledge  of  his  domi- 
cile, and  stated  that  he  himself  brought  her  the 
packages  containing  the  numbers  to  a  place  in  the 
Jardin  de  I'Egalite.  Asked  if  she  would  know 
Babeuf  if  she  saw  him,  she  replied  that  she  had 
never  observed  him  closely,  but  that  he  was  of 
medium  stature,  with  a  long,  thin,  serious-looking 
face.  Asked,  still  further,  where  the  first  numbers 
were  sold,  she  replied  that  they  were  fetched  from 
somewhere  near  the  Place  des  Piques,  and  that  it 
was  from  thence  that  the  Journal  de  la  Uberte  de 
la  presse  had  been  sent  out. 

By  an  irony  of  fate,  it  was  his  recent  friend 
Tallien  who  had  now  become  the  sworn  enemy  of 
the  late  revolutionary  government  and  of  Jacobin 
principles  generally,  and  whom  Babeuf  had  also 
attacked  in  his  journal,  who  was  the  instrument  of 
obtaining  Babeuf's  arrest.  In  a  speech  in  the 
Convention  on  this  occasion,  TalHen  denounced 
Babeuf  as  the  tool  of  Fouche,  whose  enemy  Tallien 
had  now  become.  It  was  the  10th  of  Pluviose, 
year  III.  (29th  January  1795),  that  Tallien  brought 
forward   his    motion   for   Babeuf's   arrest,   on   the 


/ 


76  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

ground  of  his  having  outraged  the  national  repre- 
sentation in  his  articles.  The  Convention  giving 
its  consent,  the  arrest  was  effected  by  the  executive 
authorities  a  few  days  later. 

Owing  to  the  hints  obtained  from  the  woman 
Anne  Treillard,  the  committee,  acting  presumably 
on  the  motion  carried  by  Tallien  before  the  Con- 
vention a  fortnight  before,  succeeded  by  means 
of  its  police  in  discovering  and  seizing  Babeuf 
on  the  12th  of  February  1795.  While  in  prison, 
their  victim,  however,  was  successful  in  smuggling 
out  and  getting  distributed  a  manifesto  entitled 
"  Babeuf,  the  Tribune  of  the  People,  to  his  Fellow- 
Citizens."  It  consisted  in  a  vigorous  defence  of 
his  public  and  private  conduct,  not  forgetting  the 
affair  at  Montdidier.  But  it  was  without  effect, 
for,  together  with  other  members  of  his  staff,  a 
few  days  later  he  was  conveyed  from  Paris  to 
Arras,  where  the  imprisonment  was  continued. 
It  should  be  noted,  as  regards  this,  that  Babeuf  and 
his  colleagues  were  imprisoned  in  a  purely  arbitrary 
manner,  as  no  definite  charge  had  been  formulated 
against  them,  and  no  idea  of  a  trial  at  any  definite 
time  seems  to  have  been  even  entertained,  as  it 
certainly  never  took  place. 

Babeuf's  companions  in  the  prison  at  Arras 
were  Lebois,  the  editor  of  Le  Journal  de  legalite ; 
Taffoureau,  a  friend  of  Babeuf  s,  probably  from 
the  days  of  the  Correspondant  Picard,  who  had 


VICISSITUDES   OF   FORTUNE        77 

been  arrested  as  a  partisan  of  the  Terror  in  his 
native  town  of  St  Omer;  and  Cochet,  also  a 
native  of  St  Omer,  who  was  doubtless  in  gaol  for 
the  same  reason.  There  were  other  partisans  of 
the  fallen  party  of  the  Mountain,  who  subse- 
quently joined  Babeufs  movement,  and  who  were 
detained  in  another  prison  at  Arras.  Already, 
in  1787,  in  a  letter  to  his  old  correspondent 
Dubois  de  Fosseux,  Babeuf  indicates  that  his 
mind  was  occupied  with  the  question  of  the 
communisation  of  the  land  and  the  products  of 
industry,  but  at  that  time  it  was  in  the  form 
of  a  problem  only.  It  was  in  the  prison  of 
Arras,  singularly  enough,  the  town  where  his  old 
correspondent  resided,  that  the  root  ideas  of  the 
communism  subsequently  embodied  in  the  pro- 
gramme of  the  Equals  of  the  year  V.  were  first 
definitely  formulated.  The  first  impulse,  or  at  all 
events  the  fii'st  definite  notion  of  communism  as  the 
economic  ideal  of  human  society,  seems  to  have 
been  derived  by  Babeuf  from  a  study  of  Morelly's 
work,  Le  Code  de  la  nature  et  le  veritable  esprit 
de  ses  lois  de  tout  temps  neglige  ou  inconnu. 

This  work  of  JMorelly,  an  obscure  author  of 
whom  little  is  known,  was  written  about  1755, 
and  seems  to  have  had  a  certain  vogue  for  a  time, 
probably  in  part  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  was  for 
long  attributed  to  Diderot.  The  work  of  Morelly 
was  undoubtedly,  both  intrinsically  and  in  effect, 


78  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

the  most  important  of  the  precursors,  not  only  of 
Babouvism,  but  of  the  Utopian  SociaHsm  of  the 
early  nineteenth  century ;  its  influence,  either  direct 
or  indirect,  on  Fourier  and  Cabet  being  specially 
noticeable.  In  accordance  with  eighteenth-century 
anthropology,  Morelly  starts  with  the  classical 
notion  of  the  "  golden  age,"  which  he  deduces  from 
the  theory  that  the  primitive  instincts  of  all  men 
are  good.  The  present  state  of  inequality  and  its 
accompanying  human  misery  is  due,  not  to  any 
intrinsic  defect  in  human  nature,  but  to  the  insti- 
tution of  private  property.  It  was  the  inroads  of 
the  latter  upon  the  communism  originally  reigning 
among  the  children  of  men  that  was  the  source 
and  fountain  of  all  evil.  So  soon  as  individuals 
began  to  use  more  than  their  share  of  the  common 
goods,  then  began  all  the  miseries  that  had  afflicted 
mankind. 

Morelly  accepted  the  principle  of  Helvetius, 
that  the  root  of  all  conduct  was  self-love,  but 
argued  that,  since  no  man  can  be  happy  by 
himself  alone  without  the  aid  of  his  fellow-men, 
recognition  of  the  claims  of  others — in  other 
words,  moral  rectitude — is  the  only  certain  means 
of  promoting  one's  own  happiness.  As  a  direct 
consequence  of  this  principle,  Morelly  insisted 
upon  the  common  ownership  of  all  wealth,  and 
the  equal  enjoyment  of  the  good  things  of  life 
by  all  alike.     It  is  curious  that  this  old  eighteenth- 


■fKl 


VICISSITUDES    OF   FORTUNE        79 

century  writer  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to 
put  forward  the  subsequently  well-known  maxim 
"  from  each  according  to  his  abilities,  to  each  accord- 
ing to  his  needs."  He  undoubtedly  made  this  the 
basis  of  his  social  construction.  For  his  scheme 
is  plainly  built  throughout  upon  this  principle. 
The  only  advantage  accruing  to  talent  is,  according 
to  Morelly's  system,  to  be  the  honour  of  directing 
the  industiy  and  the  affairs  of  the  community  in 
general.  The  natural  products  of  different  districts 
are  the  paths  from  one  to  the  other,  by  a  natural 
system  of  exchange,  founded  upon  mutual  accom- 
modation. 

Notwithstanding  Morelly's  conviction  of  the 
intrinsic  goodness  of  human  nature,  coercion  is 
assumed  as  necessary,  to  prevent  the  backsliding 
of  indi\ddual  members  of  the  new  society.  Strong 
fortresses  are  spoken  of  in  deserted  places  where 
criminal  or  recalcitrant  persons  are  to  be  confined 
for  a  time,  or,  in  extreme  cases,  for  life.  As  re- 
gards marriage,  Morelly  insists  that  every  citizen 
who  has  attained  to  man's  estate  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  marry.  Celibacy  is  only  to  be  allowed 
after  the  fortieth  year  has  been  attained.  At 
the  beginning  of  every  year  the  festival  of 
marriage  is  to  be  celebrated  for  all  those  who 
have  attained  the  requisite  age.  '•  The  young 
persons  of  both  sexes  will  be  gathered  together, 
and,  in  presence  of  the  senate  of  the  city,  every 


80  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

youth  will  choose  the  maiden  that  pleases  him, 
and  as  soon  as  he  has  received  her  consent, 
will  take  her  to  wife."  The  first  marriage  is 
to  be  indissoluble  during  ten  years.  Afterwards 
divorce  is  to  be  allowed,  by  consent  of  both,  or 
even  on  the  demand  of  one  only,  of  the  parties 
concerned.  The  divorced  persons  are  not  to  be 
allowed  to  marry  again  before  the  expiration  of 
one  year,  and  they  will  not  be  permitted  to  be 
reunited  to  each  other  under  any  circumstances. 
They  cannot  marry  younger  persons  than  them- 
selves, or  than  the  divorced  partner  of  the  original 
marriage.  Only  widows  and  widowers  are  to  have 
this  liberty. 

As  might  be  expected,  there  are  traces  of  the 
influence  of  the  first,  and,  for  a  long  time,  sole 
exponent  of  Utopianism  —  Thomas  JNIore.  As 
already  stated,  many  of  Fourier's  specific  doctrines 
are  anticipated  by  JNIorelly,  e.g.  that  the  moral 
world  is  governed  by  civil  laws,  as  the  physical 
is  by  natural  laws.  In  the  physical  world,  argues 
Morelly,  power  of  attraction,  i.e.  gravitation,  is 
dominant ;  in  the  moral  world,  the  place  of  gravi- 
tation is  supplied  by  that  of  self-love.  There  is  also 
a  strong  analogy  between  the  "city"  of  Morelly  and 
the  phalanstere  of  Fourier.  The  division  of  the 
various  elements  of  society  on  a  fixed  mechanical 
and  arithmetical  scheme,  founded  on  a  decimal 
basis,    so   characteristic   of  Fourier,  is   also   note- 


•m 


VICISSITUDES   OF   FORTUNE        81 

worthy  in   INIorelly.      Even    Fourier's   description 

of  the  arrangement  of  his  ideal  phalanstere  bears 

unmistakable  traces  of  Morelly's  work.     According 

to  the  latter,  in  the  centre  of  the  city  is  to  be  a 

great  open  space,  surrounded  by  storehouses  and 

pubhc  buildings ;  surrounding  these,  again,  are  to 

be  the  dwellings  of  the  citizens  ;  farther  away,  the 

buildings  in  which  industrial  operations  are  carried 

on ;  still  further  away  are  the   dwelling-places   of 

the  peasantry,  together  with  the   farm   buildings. 

But  these  details,  interesting  as  they  are  in  view 

of  the   later  developments  of  Utopian  Socialism, 

have  no  special  significance  or  importance  for  the 

movement    inaugurated    by   Babeuf.      The    chief 

thing  in  this  connection  is  the  importance  of  the 

influence    of    Morelly's    book    in    furnishing    the 

groundwork  for  the  definite  communistic  principles 

of  the  Society  of  the  Equals.     These  ideas  ripened 

in  Babeuf's  mind  undoubtedly,  and,  through  him, 

in  those  of  his  associates,  during  their  imprisonment 

at  Arras,  early  in  the   year    1795.       Outside,  the 

party   of  the    Mountain   and   the   Jacobins    were 

throughout  France  at   this   time   a   defeated  and 

a  persecuted  faction. 

Communistic   ideas,  properly  so   called,  though 

undoubtedly  present  in   a   loose   and   vague   way 

in  the  minds   of  individual   members   of  the   old 

revolutionary  party,  were  never  formally  recognised 

by  the  party  as  such,  which  always,  in  the  main, 

6 


82  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

was  a  party  of  the  small  middle-class,  and  the 
small  independent  master-workman,  who  economi- 
cally at  this  time  formed  part  of  that  class.  Hence 
it  represented,  as  such,  economically,  the  interests 
of  the  small  property-holder  as  against  the  feudal 
landlord,  and  all  that  appertained  to  him,  in  the 
first  place ;  and  in  the  second  place,  as  against  the 
new  wealthy  manufacturer,  contractor,  and  man 
of  finance.  But  the  proletariat,  as  we  understand 
it  to-day,  was  too  young  and  immature  to  have, 
strictly  speaking,  a  definite  class-consciousness  of 
its  own,  still  less  determinate  principles  of  political 
action.  Nevertheless,  so  far  as  it  was  possible, 
Babeuf  s  new  movement  constituted  for  the  moment 
the  rallying-point,  as  for  a  last  effort,  of  all  the 
revolutionary  sections  of  the  French  people. 

The  formation  of  a  new  class  of  wealthy 
bourgeois  to  step  into  the  place  economically  and 
politically  of  the  displaced  feudal  aristocracy  had 
already  begun.  It  was  already  evident  that  the 
aim  of  the  Thermidorean  leaders,  i.e.  of  those 
who  had  been  instrumental  in  the  overthrow  of 
Robespierre  and  of  the  old  revolutionary  regime, 
was  to  place  themselves  at  the  head  of  such  a  new 
aristocracy  of  wealth.  The  process  of  the  formation 
and  consolidation  of  this  new  monied  class  was,  as 
we  all  know,  completed  under  the  regime  of  the 
first  Empire,  but,  as  already  said,  it  began  unmis- 
takably immediately  after   the   overthrow   of  the 


tfafli 


VICISSITUDES   OF   FORTUNE        83 

system  of  the  Terror.  It  dates,  indeed,  really  from 
long  before,  in  fact  from  the  end  of  1789,  when  the 
first  sale  of  the  nationalised  ecclesiastical  lands 
took  place. 

Syndicates  were  formed  to  compete  with  private 
indi\dduals  in  the  scramble  for  the  landed  pro- 
perty of  the  Church.  As  only  a  small  percentage 
of  the  purchase-money  had  to  be  paid  at  once, 
the  way  of  the  astute  speculator  was  smoothed  for 
him.  In  the  not  unfounded  hopes  of  evading  the 
payment  of  the  second  instalment,  many  of  these 
adventurers  favoured  the  Revolution,  and  were 
specially  eager  in  urging  on  the  Austrian  war. 
After  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy  on  the  10th 
of  August  1792  it  was  decided  that  the  lands  of 
the  emigrant  nobles  should  be  sold  only  in  small 
lots,  and  not  m  huge  sections,  as  had  been  the  case 
with  the  ecclesiastical  lands. 

Here  we  see  the  effects  of  the  new  revolutionary 
regime,  in  which  the  influence  of  the  small  middle 
and  working  class  was  dominant.  The  speculators 
and  financiers  were  for  the  moment  cowed.  But 
this  did  not  prevent  these  same  speculators  and 
jobbers,  during  the  ensuing  winter,  from  evading 
the  law  and  making  money,  by  means  of  sham  sales 
and  other  arts  of  trickery,  out  of  the  costly  furniture 
and  movable  effects  of  the  fugitive  nobles.  But 
although  arranged  for  on  paper,  the  actual  partition 
of  the   lands   themselves   remained   unefFected  so 


84  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

long  as  the  "  moderate "  party  of  the  Girondins 
continued  to  be  the  official  repositories  of  political 
power.  After  their  fall,  the  sale  of  the  lands  was 
definitely  ordered  on  the  conditions  already  de- 
scribed. But  the  decree  of  the  Convention  was 
again  hampered  in  its  execution  owing  to  the 
intervention  of  the  second  great  campaign  against 
the  coalition  of  Europe  of  the  autumn  of  1793. 
France  became  for  the  nonce  a  "gigantic  armed 
camp,"  and  the  one  thought  was  the  national 
defence.  But  though  few  transfers,  in  the  sense  in- 
tended, were  made,  this  did  not  prevent  individual 
agents  of  the  government  from  improving  the 
situation  to  their  own  advantage  by  sales  which 
evaded  the  conditions  imposed.  Two-thirds  of  the 
houses  in  Paris  had  now  become  national  property. 
Finally,  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  early 
in  1794,  while  ordering  the  sale  of  the  confis- 
cated lands  to  be  continued  with  greater  despatch 
than  heretofore,  and  while  advising  the  principle 
of  partition  on  a  small  scale  should  be  adhered  to 
as  far  as  possible,  did  not  make  the  latter  an 
absolute  sine  qua  non,  the  result  being  that  the 
victuallers  of  the  army  and  the  contractors  for  war 
material  generally,  who  had  become  suddenly  rich 
by  the  malpractices  usual  with  their  tribe,  had 
succeeded  in  annexing  considerable  tracts  of  French 
territory  for  nominal  sums  in  cash.  Other  means 
were  now  adopted  for  enabling  the  new  privileged 


VICISSITUDES    OF   FORTUNE        85 

classes  to  raise  themselves  economically  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  bas  peuple,  foremost  among  which  was 
the  hocussing  of  the  currency  by  the  issuing  of  a 
limitless  mass  of  a  practically  worthless  paper. 

These  and  other  forms  of  robbery  on  the  part  of 
the  new  financial  middle-class  flourished  still  more 
exceedingly  during  the  heyday  of  this  class — the 
period  of  the  Consulate  and  Empire.  It  was,  then, 
this  new  middle-class  which  from  the  Revolution  of 
Thermidor  onwards  gave  intellectual,  moral,  and 
political  tone  to  French  life.  The  active  opposition 
to  their  sway  was  constituted  by  the  remains  of 
the  old  revolutionary  party,  which  were  momentarily 
gathered  together  in  the  movement  of  which  our 
Francois  Noel,  or  Gracchus,  Babeuf,  as  he  now 
called  himself,  was  the  life  and  soul. 

Babeuf  himself  alludes  in  his  famous  43rd  number 
of  the  Tribun  to  the  object-lesson  as  to  the  turn 
things  were  taking,  such  as  "he  that  runs  could 
read,"  to  be  found  in  the  comparison  between 
the  present  and  former  fortunes  of  many  of  the 
old  revolutionary  leaders,  now  termed  "  Thermi- 
doreans." 

Barras  had  acquired  five  estates.  Merlin  de 
Thionville  possessed  two  chateaux  and  immense 
landed  property,  and  could  afford  to  give  300,000 
francs  a  month  to  his  mistress.  Tallien  had  made 
an  alliance  with  a  Spanish  woman  of  wealth  and 
title.     Legendre,  the  ci-devant  butcher,  the  former 


86  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

friend  of  Danton,  had  come  into  possession  of  a 
large  estate,  which  he  kept  up  at  vast  expense. 
During  the  five  revolutionary^  years  before  the  9th 
of  Thermidor  the  issue  of  paper  money  [assignats), 
although  disastrous  enough  in  its  economic  effects, 
was  nevertheless  kept  within  bounds,  and.  it  has 
been  computed,  amounted  to  not  more  than  seven 
milliards.  A  certain  relative  proportion  between 
the  guarantee  security  and  the  paper  money  was 
never  quite  lost  sight  of  during  all  the  issues  dating 
from  before  the  fall  of  Robespierre.  It  was  only 
under  the  reaction  which  set  in  shortly  after  the 
last  event  that  all  idea  of  proportion  was  cast  to 
the  winds  in  favour  of  absolutely  reckless  swindling. 
While,  as  above  said,  during  the  first  five  years  of 
the  Revolution,  it  has  been  estimated  that  at  most 
seven  milliards  of  paper  was  issued^  within  two 
years  following  July  1794,  the  amount  of  paper 
poured  into  circulation  has  been  reckoned  to  have 
been  not  less  than  thirty-eight  milliards ;  of  which 
thirty  milliards  belong  to  the  first  six  months  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  year  III.,  that  is,  to  the 
Government  of  the  Directory. 

It  was  indeed  evident  that  all  these  "  nouveaux 
riches,"  thieves  on  a  great  scale,  constituted  the 
real  and  sole  effective  power  in  the  country.  The 
five  directors  were  their  mandatories. 

The  Directory  and  all  the  prominent  politicians 
of  the  time  were  hand  in  glove  with  a  cHque  of 


Mi^ 


VICISSITUDES   OF   FORTUNE        87 

speculative  financiers,  whose  sole  aim  was  to  enrich 
themselves.  Their  nefarious  influence  may  be  seen 
in  most  of  the  laws  passed,  and  is  indeed  traceable 
right  up  to  the  year  1814.  The  bulk  of  the  govern- 
ing classes — under  Barras,  Bonaparte,  the  Bourbons 
— were  dominated  by,  or  were  in  league  with,  this 
band  of  robbers,  who  systematically  exploited  the 
national  wealth  for  their  own  benefit.  These 
financial  jackals  seized  upon  everything  they  could 
lay  their  hands  on,  it  mattered  not  what — church 
revenues,  fiscal  monies,  feudal  estates.  The  result 
naturally  was  the  sudden  and  rapid  growth  of  a 
propertyless  proletariat.  Such  was  the  state  of 
things  which  confronted  Babeuf  when  his  political 
career  began,  and  such  was  the  population  to  whom 
the  gospel  of  Babeuf  appeared  as  a  godsend. 
Thousands  of  persons  in  Paris  and  in  other  towns 
of  France  were  on  the  brink  of  starvation.  The 
economic  situation  in  Paris  under  the  Directory 
and  the  subsequent  years  was  as  desperate  as  any 
that  has  been  known  in  the  world's  history. 

Babeuf  had  and  made  many  friends  and  sym- 
pathisers in  Arras ;  amongst  them  was  the  family 
of  the  ex-proconsul  there  during  the  Terror, 
Joseph  Lebon,  who  seem  to  have  become  enthusi- 
astic adherents,  which  is  significant,  considering 
Lebon's  association  with  the  party  of  Robespierre, 
and  Babeuf's  severe  attacks  on  the  Robespierrists 
and    even    on    Lebon    personally,    in    the    earlier 


88  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

numbers  of  the  Tribun.  This  is  more  noteworthy, 
seeing  that  Lebon  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
most  ferocious  agents  of  the  Terror,  and  that 
Babeuf,  however  much  he  may  have  modified  his 
view  of  the  character  of  Robespierre  in  general, 
had  never  as  yet  withdrawn  his  strictures  of  the 
system  of  the  Terror  itself,  which  was  entirely 
opposed  to  the  humanitarian  principles  he  had 
hitherto  professed.  However  this  may  be,  his 
acquaintance  with  the  Lebons  had  an  important 
result  for  the  movement,  for  it  was  in  their  house 
Babeuf  first  met  Darthe,  his  subsequent  colleague 
and  right  hand  in  the  Society  of  the  Pantheon,  and 
in  the  conspiracy  of  the  Equals,  which  was  its 
sequel. 

Augustin  Alexandre  Darthe  was  a  native  of 
St  Pol,  in  the  department  of  the  Pas-de-Calais. 
Darthe  had  played  a  certain  public  role  during 
the  Revolution,  had  taken  part  in  the  affair  of  the 
Bastille,  and  had  been  afterwards  a  member  of  the 
directing  body  of  his  department.  In  consequence 
of  his  services  in  this  capacity  he  had  been  decreed 
to  have  "  merited  well  of  the  country."  He  subse- 
quently became  public  prosecutor  to  the  revolu- 
tionary tribunals  of  Arras  and  Cambrai,  where 
his  incorruptibility  and  frugality  were  recognised 
by  all.  He  was  a  supporter  of  Robespierre,  and 
is  described  as  of  severe  morals  and  of  a  com- 
passionate heart ! 


VICISSITUDES   OF   FORTUNE        89 

During  the  time  of  Babeuf  s  detention  at  Arras 
the  town  was  rent  by  the  feud  between  the  Thermi- 
doreans,  including  the  old  aristocratic  party,  now 
reconciled  to  the  wealthier  middle-class  in  their 
abhorrence  of  the  Terror,  and  the  Sansculottes. 
The  younger  and  more  ardent  members  of  the 
reactionary  coalition,  under  the  name  of  the 
Jeunesse  doree,  had  adopted  an  extravagant  cos- 
tume and  long  tresses.  The  partisans  of  the 
revolutionary  regime  were  now  indiscriminately 
termed  Jacobins.  At  the  Theatre  disturbances 
took  place  between  the  two  sides.  One  such  dis- 
turbance, in  which  the  son  of  the  guillotined  emigre, 
the  Comte  de  Bethune,  with  some  of  his  associates, 
took  part,  led  to  the  arrest  of  the  latter,  and  their 
detention  as  prisoners,  in  company  with  Babeuf 
and  his  friends.  Babeuf  describes  the  young 
aristocrat  as  a  smooth-faced  young  man,  with  an 
attractive  but  deceptive  manner.  He  continued 
the  centre  of  the  reactionary  movement  in  Arras, 
where  he  held  a  kind  of  court,  distributing  the 
current  paper  money  {assi gnats)  lavishly  amongst 
his  fellows. 

On  the  24th  of  Fructidor,  ann.  IV.  (16th  Sep- 
tember 1795),  Babeuf,  and  his  friend  Charles 
Germain,  with  whom  an  intimacy  had  been  estab- 
lished in  the  prison  of  Arras,  and  who  was  subse- 
quently to  become  Babeuf 's  ardent  and  strenuous 
colleague  in  the  conspiracy  of  the  Equals,  were 


90  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

transferred  by  the  authorities  to  Paris,  where 
shortly  after  they  were  released  by  an  amnesty 
proclaimed  by  the  National  Convention  at  its 
closing  sitting.  It  is  now  that  the  great  period 
of  Gracchus  Babeuf  s  political  activity,  terminating 
only  with  his  death,  begins. 


imm 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    SOCIETY    OF   THE    PANTHEON 

The  constitution  of  the  year  III.,  drawn  up  by 
the  Abbe  Sieyes,  and  adopted  by  the  Convention, 
aboHshed  universal  suffrage,  reimposed  a  high 
property  qualification,  and  created  two  chambers, 
a  lower  house,  called  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred, 
and  an  upper  house,  called  the  Council  of  the 
Ancients,  composed  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
members.  It  further  provided  that  two-thirds  of 
the  representatives  in  the  new  Assembly  should 
consist  of  members  of  the  Convention  itself.  The 
executive  government  was  to  consist  of  a  directory 
of  five,  nominated  by  the  two  chambers.  This 
constitution  was  the  final  expression  of  the  Thermi- 
dorean  reaction.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  old 
democratic  principles  and  revolutionary  organisation, 
which  had  found  their  expression  in  the  Constitution 
of  1793,  were  thus  swept  away  by  a  stroke  of  the 
pen.  The  Constitution  of  1793,  which  had  never 
come  into  force,  had  now  become  the  rallying-cry 
of  the   people's   party.     The  last   of  the   popular 

91 


92  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

insurrections,  that  of  the  1st  of  Prairial,  ann.  III. 
(JNIay  20th,  1795),  had  as  its  cry  the  "  Constitution 
of  '93  and  the  release  of  the  patriots." 

This  insurrection,  in  spite  of  its  momentary 
success,  was  defeated  the  same  day,  and  had  as  its 
upshot  the  definite  proscription  of  the  old  party  of 
the  JNlountain,  who  having,  on  the  expulsion  of  the 
other  members  of  the  Convention,  accepted  the 
demands  of  the  insurgents,  were  now  treated  as 
rebels.  As  may  well  be  imagined,  Babeufs  in- 
dignation at  the  new  constitution,  which  tricked 
the  people  out  of  all  the  political  rights  which  it 
had  won  during  the  Revolution,  knew  no  bounds. 
In  a  letter  written  to  the  patriots  of  Arras,  shortly 
before  his  removal  to  Paris,  he  points  out  the  effect 
of  the  new  constitution.  "According  to  this 
Constitution,"  he  writes,  "  all  those  who  have  no 
territorial  property  and  all  those  who  are  unable 
to  write,  that  is  to  say,  the  greater  part  of  the 
French  nation,  will  no  longer  have  the  right  to 
vote  in  public  assemblies ;  the  rich  and  the  clever 
will  alone  be  the  nation.  .  .  .  According  to  this 
Constitution  you  have  two  chambers,  an  upper 
and  a  lower,  a  chamber  of  peers  and  a  chamber 
of  commons ;  it  is  no  longer  the  people  who  sanction 
the  laws,  it  is  the  upper  chamber  that  has  the 
veto  ;  they  might  as  well  have  left  it  to  the  chamber 
of  Louis  XVI." 

As    we   have   seen,    Babeuf  had   many   friends 


iiMi 


THE   SOCIETY   OF   THE  PANTHEON   93 

and  sympathisers  in  the  departments,  notably  in 
his  own  department  of  the  Pas-de-Calais,  where 
his  Tribun  was  much  read.  Many  of  these 
were  now  in  Paris.  With  them,  and  with  the 
considerable  following  he  had  already  obtained 
among  the  Parisians,  Babeuf  started  in  October 
of  this  year  (1795)  a  political  society,  having  for 
its  avowed  aim  the  triumph  of  Economic  no  less 
than  of  Political  Equality.  A  little  later  this 
society  amalgamated  with  another  similar  body 
with  revolutionary  objects,  and  the  two  organisa- 
tions, merged  into  one,  now  received  the  title  of 
the  Society  of  the  Pantheon,  from  its  meeting- 
place.  It  was  not  long  before  all  that  was  revolu- 
tionary— Jacobin,  as  the  phrase  went — attached  itself 
to  the  new  movement.  Of  this  movement  Babeuf 's 
Tribun  became  the  official  organ.  On  his  release 
from  prison,  Babeuf  had  at  once  taken  up  the  paper 
at  the  point,  No.  34,  where  it  was  dropped  eight 
months  previously.  We  have  already  quoted 
passages  in  these  later  numbers,  showing  that  the 
vigour  of  its  denunciation  of  the  dominant  parties 
had  lost  nothing  from  the  interval  of  its  suspension. 
The  new  movement  grew  daily  in  strength  during 
the  following  autumn  and  winter ;  nightly  meet- 
ings were  held,  at  which  articles  from  the  Tribun 
would  be  publicly  read  and  discussed.  The  govern- 
ment began  to  get  seriously  alarmed.  Neither 
the    Tribun    nor  the    Society   of   the    Pantheon 


94  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

affected  any  longer  to  conceal  the  true  aim  of  the 
movement. 

A  word  should  be  said  here  as  to  the  causes 
which  led  the  new  executive  Directory  to  tolerate 
so  long  the  public  meetings  of  the  Society  of  the 
Pantheon.  It  was  founded,  it  should  be  premised, 
immediately  after  the  defeat  and  the  suppres- 
sion by  Napoleon  of  the  royalist  insurrection 
of  October  1795  (13th  Vendemiaire).  On  this 
occasion  the  government  had  armed  a  certain 
number  of  Jacobins,  under  the  name  of  the 
"Patriots  of  '89,"  against  their  new  royalist  enemies, 
whose  hopes  of  triumphs  at  the  elections  had  been 
foiled  by  the  decree  of  the  Convention  that  two- 
thirds  of  the  old  Convention  members  were  to  be 
retained  in  the  new  legislative  body.  The  royalists, 
who  had  recourse,  in  their  turn,  on  this  occasion, 
to  an  armed  insurrection,  had  to  be  immediately 
defeated  at  all  costs.  The  regular  troops  momen- 
tarily available  being  inadequate  for  that  purpose 
(the  insurgents  under  arms  numbering  something 
like  125,000),  the  aforesaid  Jacobins  were  enrolled, 
and  acquitted  themselves  manfully  in  dispersing 
the  royalist  insurgents.  In  consequence  of  these 
events,  it  occurred  to  the  Directory,  which  had  now 
come  into  being,  that  the  temporary  policy  of 
conciliation  towards  the  extreme  parties  was 
desirable.  In  the  first  place,  they  might  require 
their  services  again  in  a  similar  way ;  and  in  the 


THE   SOCIETY   OF   THE  PANTHEON   95 

second  place,  they  could  be  played  off  as  a  bogey 
to  the  other  parties,  thereby  strengthening  the 
hands  of  the  government  by  showing  it  up  in  the 
light  of  the  only  bulwark  against  anarchy  and 
Jacobinism. 

The  society,  on  its  formation,  first  of  all  met  in 
the  old  refectory  of  the  Convent  of  St  Genevieve, 
of  which  the  tenant  of  the  now  secularised  religious 
house,  himself  a  Jacobin,  granted  the  gratuitous 
use.  Later  on,  after  it  had  increased  in  numbers, 
the  society's  meetings  were  transferred  to  a  large 
subterranean  vault  in  the  same  building,  where, 
according  to  Buonarroti,  the  flare  of  torches,  the 
hollow  echo  of  voices,  and  the  attitudes  of  the 
audience  standing,  leaning  against  pillars,  or  lying 
on  the  ground,  produced  a  weird  effect,  well  calcu- 
lated to  impress  those  present  with  the  magnitude 
and  the  dangers  of  their  enterprise.  From  the 
first  the  constitution  of  the  society  was  very 
irregular,  no  provision  being  made  for  the  keeping 
of  books  or  minutes,  and  the  only  condition  of 
admission  to  its  membership  being  the  sponsorship 
of  two  persons  already  members.  This  looseness 
of  organisation  was  largely  due  to  a  fear  of  coming 
into  conflict  with  the  new  law  concerning  the  right 
of  public  assembly,  which  imposed  many  restric- 
tions, and  especially  to  a  desire  not  to  give  colour 
to  the  notion  that  the  Pantheon  Society  was  a 
revival  of  the  Jacobin  Club  under  another  name, 


96  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

which,  it  was  felt,  would  at  once  arouse  hostility  in 
influential  circles,  and  lead  to  suppression  of  the 
society  and  to  the  persecution  of  its  members. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  looseness  of  procedure  was 
the  fruitful  cause  of  many  undesirable  persons 
being  admitted,  although  the  nature  of  the  move- 
ment at  the  outset,  not  being  a  wholly  secret 
society,  but  avowedly  a  political  party  (albeit 
with  well-nigh  undisguised  insurrectionary  aims), 
rendered  anything  like  a  strict  scrutiny  of  candi- 
dates for  admission  a  practical  impossibility. 

The  society  had  not  been  long  in  existence 
before  it  counted  over  two  thousand  constant 
members.  But  it  might  have  been  remarked  that 
it  was  not  altogether  homogeneous  in  respect 
of  principles.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  right 
and  left  wing,  the  first  composed  of  miscellaneous 
Jacobins,  calling  themselves  "Patriots  of  '89,"  many 
of  whom  had  fought  against  the  royalist  insurgents 
on  the  13th  of  Vendemiaire,  and  who,  in  conse- 
quence, had  some  influence  with  the  government, 
and  the  more  thoroughgoing  and  definite  adherents 
of  the  doctrine  of  Equality,  as  understood  by  Babeuf 
and  his  friends.  While  the  latter  were  untiring  in 
agitating  against  the  constitution  recently  come 
into  force,  and  the  fraudulent  manner  in  which  the 
small  middle  and  working  classes  had  been  cheated 
of  the  fruits  of  the  Revolution,  the  former  were 
more  concerned  to  get  places  for  themselves  and 


■a^^fci 


THE   SOCIETY   OF   THE  PANTHEON   97 

their  associates.  Nevertheless,  for  a  time  all  worked 
fairly  harmoniously  together.  A  demand  was 
made  for  the  giving  effect  to  a  decree  passed 
during  the  Terror,  according  to  which  one  milliard 
of  the  proceeds  derived  from  the  sale  of  the  national 
lands  should  be  distributed  among  the  "  defenders 
of  the  country,"  to  wit,  those  returned  from  the 
wars ;  and  in  the  case  of  those  slain,  for  their 
families.  The  application  of  the  poor  law  of 
ann.  II.  was  also  demanded.  Other  similar 
societies  to  that  of  the  Pantheon  now  began  to  be 
formed,  and  to  hold  meetings  in  various  parts  of 
Paris. 

Babeuf,  as  already  intimated,  boldly  proclaimed 
in  his  paper,  the  Tribun  du  Peuple,  the  doctrine  of 
equality,  scathingly  criticised  the  Directory,  and 
continued  unremittingly  to  denounce  individual 
property-holding  as  the  principal  source  of  all  the 
evil  weighing  on  society.  It  was  not  long  indeed 
before  a  new  mandate  of  arrest  was  launched  against 
him.  Early  in  February  1796  the  Directory  de- 
cided to  take  vigorous  measures  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  Tribun.  Accordingly,  an  officer  of  the 
Court  repaired  to  the  Faubourg  St  Honore  No.  29 
to  execute  the  warrant.  Babeuf,  however,  resisted, 
eventually  succeeding  in  shaking  the  officer  off, 
and  dashed  down  the  street,  with  the  government 
representative  at  his  heels  shouting  "  stop  thief ! " 
Babeuf  was  successful,  however,  in  getting  away 

7 


98  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

to  a  shelter  afforded  him  by  Darthe  and  another 
friend.  Foiled  in  their  attempt  to  seize  the  person 
of  Babeuf,  the  authorities  consoled  themselves  by- 
ordering  the  arrest  of  his  wife  and  two  children, 
one  of  whom  was  ill  at  the  time.  Members  of  the 
Society  of  the  Pantheon  subscribed  financial  aid,  as 
did  also  his  friends  and  followers  at  Arras.  The 
prosecution,  however,  succeeded  in  its  object ;  and 
although  Babeuf  managed  to  issue  a  few  more 
numbers  from  his  retreat,  the  journal  came  to  an 
end  in  a  few  days  with  the  43rd  issue,  which  ex- 
ceeds in  boldness  all  that  had  gone  before  it.  The 
Trihun  du  Peuple,  after  criticising  the  proclamation 
of  the  Directory,  its  severe  penal  laws  recently 
enacted  against  the  liberty  of  public  meeting  and 
of  the  press,  winds  up :  "  All  is  finished.  The 
Terror  against  the  people  is  the  order  of  the  day. 
It  is  no  longer  permitted  to  speak ;  it  is  no  longer 
permitted  to  read ;  it  is  no  longer  permitted  to 
think ;  it  is  no  longer  permitted  to  say  that  we 
suffer ;  it  is  no  longer  permitted  to  repeat  that  we 
live  under  the  reign  of  the  most  abominable 
tyrants."  The  "  abominable  tyrants "  were  the 
Thermidoreans,  Barras,  Merlin  de  Thionville,  Tal- 
lien,  Freron,  Legendre,  etc.,  the  would-be  austere 
republicans  of  yesterday,  to-day  for  the  most  part 
the  wealthy  parvenus,  who  had  become  possessed 
of  vast  portions  of  the  national  property,  confiscated 
from  the  Nobility  and  the  Church. 


THE   SOCIETY   OF   THE   PANTHEON   99 

But  even  now  Babeuf  did  not  give  up  hope. 
"  O  people  !  "  he  exclaims,  "  do  not  despair ;  we 
shall  break  all  the  chains  to  prevent  thee  dying 
the  victims  of  those  who  torture  thee,  who 
plunder  thee,  and  who  abuse  thee  these  twenty- 
months  past."  But  the  prophecy  of  Babeuf  was 
not  to  be  fulfilled.  The  Repubhc  of  the  Rich,  in 
which  the  new  class  that  had  entered  into  the 
spoils  of  the  feudal  and  ecclesiastical  aristocracy  of 
old  was  to  play  the  dominant  role,  was,  before 
many  years  were  over,  destined  to  cast  off  even 
its  republican  form,  and  become  an  undisguised 
military  despotism.  Not  for  nothing  had  the 
young  artillery  officer  won  his  spurs  in  the  royalist 
insurrection  of  the  13th  of  Vendemiaire. 

Hard  upon  the  final  collapse  of  the  Tribun  du 
Peuple,  at  its  43rd  number,  followed  the  publica- 
tion of  the  celebrated  "  Manifesto  of  the  Equals," 
which  proved  decisive  for  the  fortunes  of  Babeuf 
and  his  friends.  To  this  important  document  we 
shall  revert  again  shortly.  The  following  was 
the  order  of  the  meetings  held  by  the  Society 
of  the  Pantheon :  the  public  reading  of  journals, 
the  reading  of  correspondence,  the  collection  for 
unfortunate  "patriots,"  the  discussion  of  steps  to 
be  taken  to  liberate  those  in  prison,  debate  on 
questions  of  legislation  and  of  general  principles. 
Agents  of  the  government  worked  their  way 
into    the    confidence    of    the    society,    preaching 


100  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

non-resistance  and  submission  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  year  III.  The  pohcy  of  these 
government  agents  reached  its  cHmax  in  a  motion 
proposing  the  sending  of  an  obsequious  address  to 
the  Directory,  in  which  the  society  should  formally 
declare  its  adhesion  to  the  new  constitution ;  and 
the  influence  of  the  section  formed  within  the 
society  by  them  was  sufficiently  powerful  to 
overcome  the  stormy  opposition  with  which  the 
motion  was  received  by  that  portion  of  the 
society  which  remained  true  to  the  principles  on 
which  it  had  been  founded,  and  to  get  the  motion 
of  subservience  carried.  The  tactics  of  the  govern- 
ment in  their  dealings  with  the  Pantheonists  were 
distinctly  clever,  since  it  made  evident  an  un- 
mistakable cleavage  in  their  body,  which  showed 
plainly  who  were  those  constituting  the  irreconcil- 
able section  and  who  were  their  leaders.  The  latter 
seemed  to  have  regained  their  ascendancy  in  the 
society,  as  also  in  the  branches  scattered  over  Paris. 
Among  the  many  practical  questions  of  the 
hour  which  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Pan- 
theonists, and  were  the  subjects  of  the  petitions 
of  the  partisans  of  the  society  to  the  legislative 
body,  was  the  burning  one — the  fall  in  the  value  of 
the  assigtiat.  This  was  so  violent  that  the  price 
of  the  necessaries  of  life  often  doubled  in  the 
course  of  a  single  day,  thus  rendering  it  impossible 
for  wages  to  keep  on  a  level  with  them.     Hence  the 


THE  SOCIETY  OF  THE  PANTHEON    101 

handicraftsman,  small  trader,  and  the  proletariat 
found  ruin  staring  them  in  the  face.  Nevertheless, 
Babeuf  and  his  friends  deprecated  any  ill-con- 
sidered and  immature  attacks  upon  the  govern- 
ment, urging  the  discussion  of  the  principles  of  the 
rights  of  man  and  of  peoples  rather  than  a  too 
eager  application  of  them  to  the  tyrants  of  the 
hour,  until  public  opinion  should  be  sufficiently 
formed  to  admit  of  more  drastic  action.  With  the 
spread  of  their  views  in  popularity,  the  leaders  of 
the  movement  began  to  bethink  themselves  of 
means  for  extending  still  further  their  propaganda. 
Being  many  of  them  deists  of  the  traditional 
eighteenth-century  type,  it  was  decided  to  present 
the  political  and  economic  doctrine  of  the  Equals 
in  a  religious  guise  as  part  of  the  divinely  ordained 
order  of  nature.  They  therefore  decided,  through 
the  society,  to  apply  to  the  authorities  for  per- 
mission to  use  one  of  the  larger  vacant  churches  in 
Paris  for  the  purpose  of  celebrating  a  deistic  festival. 
It  should  be  explained  that  the  government 
itself,  under  the  auspices  of  one  of  its  members, 
Larivelliere-Lepeaux,  the  "  Theophilanthropist,"  at 
this  time  was  introducing  popular  festivals  once 
a  decade  in  the  churches  in  place  of  the  JNIass 
and  the  abohshed  services  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  government,  of  course,  at  once  saw  through 
this  demand  and  refused  the  application,  on  the 
pretext  that  the  popular  services  mentioned,  which 


102  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

were  about  to  be  officially  instituted,  would  meet 
the  needs  of  the  situation.  But  the  project  was 
not  given  up ;  the  subject  was  discussed  during 
many  meetings  of  the  society,  and  eventually  the 
friends  of  Babeuf  got  their  way.  It  was  decided 
that  the  society  should  occupy  "  the  decades  "  (the 
tenth  days)  in  honouring  in  public  the  divinity  by 
the  preaching  of  the  "  natural  law."  A  commission 
was  then  appointed  to  hire  a  church  and  draw 
up  regulations  for  the  new  cult.  The  project,  it 
should  be  said,  met  with  considerable  opposition  in 
the  society,  as  being  a  return  to  forms  of  super- 
stition, and  it  had  to  be  explained  to  the  members, 
as  plainly  as  possible,  consistently  with  safety,  that 
the  religious  form  was  merely  a  disguise,  hiding  a 
social  and  political  object. 

By  this  time  the  Directory  had  become  thoroughly 
alarmed  at  the  progress  of  the  discussions  of  the 
Society  of  the  Pantheon.  Henceforward  the  police 
were  instructed  to  spy  upon  every  movement  of 
the  orators.  All  that  was  wanting  now  was  a 
colourable  pretext  for  government  action.  The 
convent  near  the  Pantheon  where  the  society  met 
was  now  known,  in  respectable  and  moderate 
circles,  as  the  "  Cave  of  Brigands."  By  the  be- 
ginning of  February  1796  most  of  the  doubtful 
and  reactionary  elements  of  the  movement  would 
seem  to  have  left,  and  the  influence  of  Babeuf 
and    his     friends     dominated     the    whole    body. 


THE  SOCIETY  OF  THE  PANTHEON   103 

There  still  remained,  however,  \sdthin  the  fold, 
a  few  police  spies,  whose  function  it  was  to 
report  all  that  occurred  at  the  meetings,  and  any- 
private  information  they  could  obtain  from  indivi- 
duals, to  the  authorities.  The  pretext  sought  for 
by  the  government  was  furnished  by  Darthe  in 
the  reading  of  a  number  of  the  Tribwi  of 
Babeuf,  in  which  the  Directors  and  the  leading 
members  of  the  legislative  body  were  vigorously 
attacked.  Darthe  was  applauded  to  the  echo  when 
he  had  finished,  but  a  few  days  after,  on  the  29th 
February  1796,  the  closure  of  the  meeting-place  of 
the  Pantheonists  and  the  dissolution  of  the  society 
was  ordered  by  the  Directory,  and  was  carried  out 
in  person  by  General  Bonaparte.  He  it  was, 
indeed,  as  is  alleged,  who  was  the  leading  spirit  in 
the  affair,  and  who,  by  means  of  spy-information  he 
had  obtained  as  to  the  real  aims  of  the  society, 
succeeded  in  inspiring  panic  in  the  Directory.  As 
stated,  he  came  in  person,  and  compelled  the  keys 
of  the  meeting-place  to  be  given  into  his  hands. 
The  usual  attempt  was  made  to  discredit  the 
Babouvists,  as  we  may  now  call  them,  in  public 
opinion,  by  representing  their  leaders  as  disguised 
royalist  agents,  seeking  by  means  of  anarchistic 
exaggerations  to  discredit  the  Republic. 

The  closing  of  the  Pantheon  was  succeeded  by 
the  suppression  of  popular  societies  and  public 
meetings  throughout  the  city. 


104  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

Babeiifs  paper,  as  we  have  seen,  died  at  this 
time  (the  oth  Floreal.  year  IV.  :  16th  April  1796'. 
in  spite  of  a  desperate  attempt  to  cany  it  on  m 
secret  alter  his  aiTCst. 

At  the  same  time  that  Babeuf  was  conducting 
the  Trihiin  du  Ptuplt\  he  seems  to  have  v.Titten 
articles  in  another  jom^nal  of  revolutionary- 
principles  pubhshed  by  Duplay.  and  entitled 
L'EcIaircur  du  Peiiplc.  which  was  conducted  by 
his  friend  Sylvain  Marechal.  but  of  which  only  a 
few  numbers  appeared. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE    SECRET   DIRECTORY   AND    ITS    PRINCIPLES 

There  was  now  only  one  course  left  to  the 
Babouvists,  and  that  was  the  concentration  of  the 
movement  in  the  hands  of  a  secret  committee  of 
insurrection. 

It  should  be  mentioned  that  before  this,  while 
the  Society  of  the  Pantheon  was  still  flourishing,  a 
secret  committee  to  prepare  an  insurrection  against 
the  new  tyranny  had  been  formed,  and  met  at  the 
house  in  the  Rue  Clery,  of  Amar,  the  former 
member  of  the  Committee  of  General  Security 
during  the  Terror.  It  consisted  of  Amar  himself, 
Darthe,  Buonarroti,  Massart  (an  adjutant-general 
of  the  army),  and  Germain,  and  was  subsequently 
enlarged  by  the  addition  of  other  members. 

Among  the  above-mentioned  persons,  Philippe 
Buonarroti  is  worthy  of  special  note.  Descended 
from  Michael  Angelo  Buonarroti,  born  in  Pisa 
in  1764,  exiled  from  Italy  owing  to  his  enthusiastic 
adoption  of  French  revolutionary  principles,  he 
became  a  prominent  Jacobin,  and  was  honoured  by 

105 


106  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

the  Convention  with  the  title  of  French  citizen, 
joined  the  Society  of  the  Pantheon,  and  became  an 
enthusiastic  supporter  of  Babeuf  at  the  period  at 
which  we  have  arrived. 

The  theory  of  this  committee  was  that  the 
existing  government  estabhshed  by  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  year  III.  was  illegitimate  and  an 
usurpation ;  that,  in  addition,  its  intentions  were 
oppressive  and  tyrannical,  and  that  the  public 
welfare  demanded  its  destruction.  Amar  and  one 
or  two  other  members  whose  ideas  were  not  clear 
were  soon  brought  over  by  Darthe  and  Buonarroti 
to  be  enthusiastic  adherents  of  the  communistic 
doctrines  of  Babeuf  and  the  "  Equals."  This  com- 
mittee, however,  for  various  reasons,  chief  of  which 
was  the  unjust  denunciation  of  Amar  by  a  former 
colleague  of  his,  named  Heron,  who  seems  to  have 
borne  him  implacable  hatred,  was  dissolved.  An 
attempt  during  the  next  few  weeks  to  form  various 
similar  groups  also  came  to  nothing,  and  it  was  not 
until  April  that  the  celebrated  committee  composed 
of  Babeuf,  Debon,  Buonarroti,  Darthe,  Felix  Lepel- 
letier,  and  Sylvain  Marechal  was  founded,  and 
became  the  centre  of  the  renowned  Conspiracy  of 
the  "  Equals,"  which  only  just  missed  overthrowing 
the  Constitution  of  the  year  HI.,  and  the  govern- 
ment founded  upon  it. 

A   striking   unanimity   of    view   associated   the 
members  of  this  head  centre  of  the  conspiracy ; 


THE   SECRET   DIRECTORY         107 

political  liberty  and  economic  equality  were  the 
objects  animating  all.  Sylvain  Marechal,  already 
known  as  a  prominent  orator  at  the  Pantheon, 
drew  up  the  celebrated  "  Manifesto  of  the 
Equals"  as  a  condensed  exposition  of  the  aims 
of  the  movement,  and  proposed  its  acceptance 
by  his  colleagues.  Sylvain  Marechal,  it  may  be 
noted,  was  not  unknown  to  literary  fame,  having 
suffered  four  months'  imprisonment  during  the 
ancien  regime  for  a  publication  entitled  the  Alma- 
nack of  Honest  Men  {Almanack  des  honnetes 
gens).  He  also  wrote  a  work  entitled  the  Atheisfs 
Dictionary  {Dictionnaire  des  Athees).  The  Secret 
Directory,  as  the  committee  was  called,  not  alto- 
gether approving  certain  expressions  in  the  mani- 
festo, did  not  authorise  its  publication  as  an 
authoritative  statement  of  the  views  held  by  it,  but 
its  historical  importance,  nevertheless,  as  the  best 
known  short  statement  of  the  aims  of  the  move- 
ment, induces  us  to  give  it  here  in  its  entirety. 
The  manifesto  of  the  Equals  bears  for  its  motto  a 
phrase  of  Condorcet's — "  Equality  of  fact,  the  final 
aim  of  social  art."     It  proceeds  as  follows  : — 

"  People  of  France  !  During  fifteen  centuries  you 
have  lived  as  slaves,  and  in  consequence  unhappily. 
It  is  scarcely  six  years  that  you  have  begun  to 
breathe,  in  the  expectation  of  independence,  happi- 
ness, equality !  The  first  demand  of  nature,  the 
first   need   of  man,   and   the   chief  knot   binding 


108  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

together  all  legitimate  association !  People  of 
France !  you  have  not  been  more  favoured  than 
other  nations  who  vegetate  on  this  unfortunate 
growth !  Always  and  everywhere  the  poor 
human  race,  delivered  over  to  more  or  less  adroit 
cannibals,  has  served  as  a  plaything  for  all  ambi- 
tions, as  a  pasture  for  all  tyrannies.  Always  and 
everywhere  men  have  been  lulled  by  fine  words ; 
never  and  nowhere  have  they  obtained  the  thing 
with  the  word.  From  time  immemorial  it  has  been 
repeated,  with  hypocrisy,  that  vien  are  equal ;  and 
from  time  immemorial  the  most  degi'ading  and 
the  most  monstrous  inequality  ceaselessly  weighs 
on  the  human  race.  Since  the  dawn  of  civil  society 
this  noblest  appanage  of  man  has  been  recognised 
without  contradiction,  but  has  on  no  single 
occasion  been  realised ;  equality  has  never  been 
anything  but  a  beautiful  and  sterile  fiction  of  the 
law.  To-day,  when  it  is  demanded  with  a  stronger 
voice,  they  reply  to  us :  '  Be  silent,  wretches ! 
Equality  of  fact  is  nought  but  a  chimera ;  be  con- 
tented with  conditional  equality  ;  you  are  all  equal 
before  the  law.  Canaille,  what  do  you  want  more  ? ' 
What  do  we  want  more  ?  Legislators,  governors, 
rich  proprietors,  listen,  in  your  turn  !  We  are  all 
equal,  are  we  not  ?  This  principle  remains  uncon- 
tested. For,  unless  attacked  by  madness,  no  one 
could  seriously  say  that  it  was  night  when  it  was 
day. 


THE    SECRET   DIRECTORY         109 

"  Well !  we  demand  henceforth  to  Hve  and  to 
die  equal,  as  we  have  been  born  equal.  We  demand 
real  equahty  or  death  ;  that  is  what  we  want. 

"And  we  shall  have  it,  this  real  equality,  it 
matters  not  at  what  price  !  Woe  betide  those  who 
place  themselves  between  us  and  it !  Woe  betide 
him  who  offers  resistance  to  a  vow  thus  pronounced ! 

•'  The  French  Revolution  is  but  the  precursor  of 
another,  and  a  greater  and  more  solemn  revolution, 
and  which  will  be  the  last ! 

"The  People  has  marched  over  the  bodies  of 
kings  and  priests  who  coalesce^  against  it :  it  will 
be  the  same  with  the  new  tyrants,  with  the  new 
political  hypocrites,  seated  in  the  place  of  the  old 
ones !  What  do  w£  want  more  than  equality  of 
rights  ?  AVe  want  not  only  the  equality  transcribed 
in  the  declaration  of  the  Rights  of  M^an  and  the 
citizen ;  we  will  have  it  in  the  midst  of  us,  under 
the  roof  of  our  houses.  We  consent  to  everything 
for  its  sake ;  to  make  a  clear  (yoard,  that  we  may 
hold  to  it  alOne.  Perish,  if  it  must  be,  all  the  arts, 
provided  real  equality  be  left  us  !  ^  Legislators  and 
governors,  who  have  neither  genius  nor  good  faith  ; 
rich  proprietors  without  bowels  of  compassion,  you 
\\411  try  in  vain  to  neutralise  our  holy  enterprise  by 
saying  that  it  does  no  more  than  reproduce  that 
agrarian   law   already   demanded   more  than  once 

1  This  was  one  of  the  sentences  objected  to  by  other  members 
of  the  committee. 


110  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

before  !  Calumniators  !  be  silent  in  your  turn,  and, 
in  the  silence  of  confusion,  listen  to  our  demands, 
dictated  by  nature  and  based  upon  justice  ! 

"  The  agrarian  law,  or  the  partition  of  lands,  was 
the  immediate  aim  of  certain  soldiers  without 
principles,  of  certain  peoples  moved  by  their  instinct 
rather  than  by  reason.  We  aim  at  something  more 
sublime  and  more  equitable — the  common  good,  or 
the  community  of  goods.  No  more  individual 
property  in  land  ;  the  land  belongs  to  no  one.  We 
demand,  we  would  have,  the  communal  enjoyment 
of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  fruits  which  are  for 
everyone ! 

"  We  declare  that  we  can  no  longer  suffer,  with 
the  enormous  majority  of  men,  labour  and  sweat 
in  the  service  and  for  the  good  pleasure  of  a  small 
minority !  Enough  and  too  long  have  less  than  a 
million  of  individuals  disposed  of  that  which  belongs 
to  more  than  twenty  millions  of  their  kind  ! 

"  Let  this  great  scandal,  that  our  grandchildren 
will  hardly  be  willing  to  believe  in,  cease  ! 

"  Let  disappear,  once  for  all,  the  revolting 
distinction  of  rich  and  poor,  of  great  and  small,  of 
masters  and  valets,  of  governors  and  governed  !  ^ 

"  Let  there  be  no  other  difference  between  human 
beings  than  those  of  age  and  sex.     Since  all  have 

^  The  idea  of  the  abolition  of  governors  and  governed  was 
also^  as  we  are  informed  by  Buonarroti,  objected  to  by  some  of 
his  colleagues. 


THE   SECRET   DIRECTORY         111 

the  same  needs  and  the  same  faculties,  let  there  be 
one  education  for  all,  one  food  for  all.  We  are 
contented  with  one  sun  and  one  air  for  all.  Why- 
should  the  same  portion  and  the  same  quality  of 
nourishment  not  suffice  for  each  of  us  ?  But 
already  the  enemies  of  an  order  of  things  the  most 
natural  that  can  be  imagined,  declaim  against  us. 
Disorganisers  and  factious  persons,  say  they,  you 
only  seek  massacre  and  plunder.  People  of  France  ! 
we  shall  not  waste  our  time  in  replying  to  them, 
but  we  shall  tell  you :  the  holy  enterprise  which 
we  organise  has  no  other  aim  than  to  put  an  end 
to  civil  dissensions  and  to  the  public  misery. 

"  Never  has  a  vaster  design  been  conceived  or 
put  into  execution.  From  time  to  time  some  men 
of  genius,  some  sages,  have  spoken  of  it  in  a  low  and 
trembhng  voice.  Not  one  of  them  has  had  the 
courage  to  tell  the  whole  truth. 

"  The  moment  for  great  measures  has  come. 
The  evil  is  at  its  height.  It  covers  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Chaos,  under  the  name  of  politics,  reigns 
there  throughout  too  many  centuries.  Let  every- 
thing return  once  more  to  order,  and  reassume  its 
just  place ! 

"At  the  voice  of  equality,  let  the  elements  of 
justice  and  well-being  organise  themselves.  The 
moment  has  arrived  for  founding  the  Republic  of 
the  Equals,  that  grand  refuge  open  for  all  men. 
The  days  of  general  restitution  have  come.    FamiUes 


112  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

groaning  in  misery,  come  and  seat  yourselves  at  the 
common  table  prepared  by  natm-e  for  all  her 
children  !  People  of  France  !  the  purest  form  of  all 
glory  has  been  reserved  for  thee !  Yes,  it  is  you 
who  may  first  offer  to  the  world  this  touching 
spectacle ! 

"Ancient  customs,  antiquated  conventions,  would 
anew  raise  an  obstacle  to  the  establishment  of  the 
Republic  of  the  Equals.  The  organisation  of  real 
equality,  the  only  kind  that  answers  all  needs 
without  making  victims,  without  costing  sacrifices, 
will  not  perhaps  please  everybody  at  first.  The 
egoist,  the  ambitious  man,  will  tremble  with  rage. 
Those  who  possess  unjustly  will  cry  aloud  against 
its  injustice.  Exclusive  enjoyments,  solitary  pleas- 
ures, personal  ease,  will  cause  sharp  regrets  on  the 
part  of  individuals  who  have  fattened  on  the 
labour  of  others.  The  lovers  of  absolute  power, 
the  vile  supporters  of  arbitrary  authority,  will 
scarcely  bend  their  arrogant  chiefs  to  the  level  of 
real  equality.  Their  narrow  view  will  penetrate 
with  difficulty,  it  may  be,  the  near  future  of  common 
well-being.  But  what  can  a  few  thousand  malcon- 
tents do  against  a  mass  of  men,  all  of  them  happy, 
and  surprised  to  have  sought  so  long  for  a  happiness 
which  they  had  beneath  their  hand  ? 

"  The  day  after  this  veritable  revolution  they 
will  say,  with  astonishment,  What  ?  the  common 
well-being  was  to  be  had  for  so  little  ?     We  had  only 


THE   SECRET   DIRECTORY        113 

to  will  it.  Ah !  why  did  we  not  will  it  sooner  ? 
Why  had  we  to  be  told  about  it  so  many  times  ? 
Yes,  doubtless,  with  one  man  on  earth  richer,  more 
powerful  than  his  neighbours,  than  his  equals,  the 
equilibrium  is  broken,  crime  and  misery  are  already 
in  the  world.  People  of  France !  by  what  sign 
ought  you  henceforward  to  recognise  the  excellence 
of  a  constitution  ?  That  which  rests  entirely  on  an 
equality  of  fact  is  the  only  one  that  can  benefit 
you  and  satisfy  all  your  wants. 

"The  aristocratic  charters  of  1791  to  1795  have 
only  riveted  your  bonds  instead  of  rending  them. 
That  of  1793  was  a  great  step  indeed  towards  real 
equality,  and  never  before  had  it  been  approached 
so  closely ;  but  yet,  it  did  not  achieve  the  aim 
and  did  not  touch  the  common  well-being,  of 
which,  nevertheless,  it  solemnly  consecrated  the 
great  principle. 

"  People  of  France !  open  your  eyes  and  your 
heart  to  the  fulness  of  happiness.  Recognise  and 
proclaim  with  us  the  '  Republic  of  the  Equals  ' !  " 

As  already  stated,  the  Secret  Directory  did  not 

sanction  the  publication  of  the  above  document  as 

its  own,  exception  being  taken  to  certain  expressions, 

chiefly  the  phrase  "  Perish,  if  it  must  be,  all  the 

arts,  provided  real  equality  be  left  us."     This  we 

learn    from    Buonarroti.      But    the   reason   given 

seems  insufficient,  since  the  elision  or  modification 

of  two  or  three  phrases  would  have  been  an  easy 

8 


114  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

matter,  and  indeed  is  a  very  common  proceeding 
under  similar  circumstances ;  and  we  may  reason- 
ably suspect  some  other  reason  as  having  influenced 
the  committee  against  publishing  the  statement, 
which  certainly  in  substance  represented  the  views 
of  all  its  members.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  "  Secret 
Directory"  decided,  in  its  place,  to  publish  and 
circulate  the  somewhat  shorter  and  certainly  less 
rhetorical  document,  probably  drawn  up  by  Babeuf 
himself,  and  entitled  "  Analysis  of  the  Doctrine  of 
Babeuf,  Tribune  of  the  People,  proscribed  by  the 
executive  Directory  for  having  told  the  truth " 
{Analyse  de  la  doctrine  de  Babeuf,  tribun  du 
peupUy  proscrit  par  le  directoire  executif,  pour  avoir 
dit  la  verite).  It  is  divided  into  fifteen  paragraphs, 
and  is  as  follows : — 

'•  1.  Nature  has  given  to  every  man  an  equal 
right  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  goods. 

"  2.  The  object  of  society  is  to  defend  its  equality, 
often  attacked  by  the  strong  and  the  wicked  in  the 
state  of  nature,  and  to  augment,  by  the  co-operation 
of  all,  the  common  means  of  enjoyment. 

"3.  Nature  has  imposed  upon  each  one  the 
obligation  to  work.  No  one  can  evade  work  with- 
out committing  a  crime. 

"  4.  Labour  and  enjoyment  ought  to  be  common 
to  all. 

"5.  There  is  oppression  when  one  man,  after 
exhausting   himself  with   work,  wants    for  every- 


THE   SECRET   DIRECTORY         115 

thing,  while  another  swims  in  abundance  without 
doing  anything. 

"6.  No  one,  without  committing  a  crime,  can 
appropriate  to  himself  exclusively  the  products  of 
the  earth  and  industry. 

"7.  In  a  true  society  there  ought  to  be  neither 
rich  nor  poor. 

"8.  The  rich  who  are  unwilling  to  renounce  their 
superfluity  in  favour  of  the  indigent  are  the  enemies 
of  the  people. 

"  9.  No  one  should  be  able,  by  the  accumulation 
of  all  the  means  necessary  thereto,  to  deprive 
another  of  the  instruction  essential  to  his  welfare ; 
instruction  ought  to  be  in  common. 

"  10.  The  object  of  a  revolution  is  to  destroy  any 
inequality,  and  to  establish  the  well-being  of  all. 

"  11.  The  Revolution  is  not  finished,  because  the 
rich  absorb  all  the  good  things  of  life  and  rule 
exclusively,  while  the  poor  labour  as  veritable 
slaves,  languishing  in  misery,  and  counting  as 
nothing  in  the  State. 

"12.  The  Constitution  of  1793  is  the  true  law  of 
the  Frenchman  because  the  people  have  solemnly 
accepted  it ;  because  the  Convention  had  not  the 
right  to  change  it ;  because,  in  order  to  do  so, 
it  has  had  to  shoot  down  the  people  who  de- 
manded its  execution ;  because  it  has  driven  out 
and  murdered  the  deputies  who  did  their  duty  in 
defending   the  people ;   because  the  terror  of  the 


116  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

people  and  the  influence  of  the  emigrant  aristocrats 
has  presided  at  the  drawing  up  and  the  pretended 
acceptance  of  the  Constitution  of  Anno  III.  (1795), 
which  has  not  obtained  even  the  fourth  part  of  the 
votes  cast  for  that  of  1793 ;  because  the  Constitu- 
tion of  1793  has  consecrated  the  inaUenable  right 
of  every  citizen  to  consent  to  the  laws,  to  exercise 
political  rights,  to  hold  public  meetings,  to  demand 
that  which  he  believes  to  be  useful,  to  educate  him- 
self, and  not  to  die  of  hunger, — rights  which  the 
counter-revolutionary  Act  of  Anno  III.  (1795)  has 
openly  and  completely  violated. 

"  13.  Every  citizen  is  bound  to  re-estabhsh  and 
to  defend  the  Constitution  of  1793 — the  will  and 
the  well-being  of  the  people. 

"  14.  All  the  powers  derived  from  the  pretended 
Constitution  of  Anno  III.  (1795)  are  illegal  and 
counter-revolutionary. 

"15.  Those  who  have  raised  their  hand  against 
the  Constitution  of  1793  are  guilty  of  treason 
against  the  people." 

Such  is  the  official  statement  of  the  general  aims 
of  the  Insurrectionary  Committee  or  Secret  Direc- 
tory, of  which  Babeuf  was  the  leading  spirit.  The 
view  expressed  as  to  the  illegality  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  year  III.  (1795)  is  indisputable.  The  earlier 
Constitution  of  1793,  drawn  up  by  the  party  of 
the  Mountain  in  the  Convention,  which  was  of  a 
thoroughly  democratic  character,  had  not  only  been 


THE    SECRET    DIRECTORY         117 

accepted  by  the  Convention  itself,  but  had  been 
ratified  in  a  subsequent  referendum  by  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  communes  throughout 
France  in  their  primary  assembUes.  Hence  for 
the  Convention,  two  years  later,  of  its  ow^n 
authority,  arbitrarily  to  tear  up  an  Act  of  con- 
stitution, not  merely  adopted  by  itself,  but  solemnly 
ratified  by  a  vote  of  the  French  people,  was  clearly 
a  violation  of  all  law,  custom,  or  constitutional 
procedure  whatever.  It  was,  in  short,  an  impudent 
and  unscrupulous  usurpation  of  power  by  the 
nouveaux  riches  of  France  and  their  satellites. 
As  such,  the  "  Secret  Directory  "  was  fully  justified 
in  declaring  it  to  be  an  outrage  on  the  people,  and 
in  no  way  binding  on  any  Frenchman. 

From  this  point  of  view,  all  authority  deriving  its 
sanction  from  the  new  Constitution  of  the  year  III. 
was  null  and  void,  and  any  exercise  of  power  or  act 
of  violence  on  the  part  of  such  authority  was,  without 
doubt,  justifiably  to  be  regarded  as  mere  brigand- 
age. It  was  the  primary  objective,  so  to  say,  of 
the  movement,  the  rehabilitation  of  the  Constitution 
of  1793,  that  attracted  all  the  old  revolutionary 
elements  to  it,  and  united  them  in  one  accord. 
Old  "  jNIountainists  "  and  committee-men,  partisans 
of  Hebert  and  Chaumette,  worked  side  by  side 
with  their  old  opponents,  partisans  of  Robespierre, 
and  both  with  the  new  Communist  democrats, 
Babeuf  and   his   friends.     The   realisation   of  the 


118  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

Constitution  of  '93  was  the  link  which  bound  them. 
In  one  respect,  the  "  Secret  Directory  "  was  simply 
a  continuation  of  the  Society  of  the  Pantheon,  in 
so  far  as  the  work  of  propaganda  and  the  educating 
and  organising  of  public  opinion  was  the  chief 
object.  At  the  same  time,  while  steadily  keeping 
in  view  their  ultimate  aims,  Babeuf  and  his  friends, 
who  formed  the  soul  of  the  new  movement,  made 
it  the  chief  point  at  this  time  to  rally  the  scattered 
revolutionary  forces  under  the  banner  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  '93,  an  object  upon  which  all  could  unite. 
But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  Babouvists 
regarded  this  work  of  the  Convention  in  its 
revolutionary  period  as  by  any  means  perfect. 
For  one  thing,  they  naturally  objected  to  its  re- 
affirmation of  the  articles  in  the  Declaration  of  the 
Rights  of  Man  concerning  the  principles  of  private 
property  -  holding.  Even  the  constitution  itself 
they  considered  as  offering  insufficient  guarantees 
against  usurpations  on  the  part  of  the  legislative 
body.  But  they  proposed  to  remedy  these  defects 
by  additions  and  modifications  after  the  constitu- 
tion had  been  once  in  principle  adopted.  It  was 
enough  for  them  that  the  Constitution  of  '93  was 
the  best  as  a  whole,  and  the  most  democratic  up 
to  date ;  that  it  had  been  accepted  almost  unani- 
mously by  the  French  democracy,  and  that  it  was 
the  one  possible  rally ing-point  for  all  the  revolu- 
tionary parties. 


THE    SECRET   DIRECTORY         119 

Part  of  the  work  of  the  "  Secret  Directory " 
was  to  establish  and  keep  going  throughout  Paris, 
now  that  public  discussion  on  a  large  scale,  as  at 
the  old  convent  of  St  Genevieve  with  the  Pan- 
theonists,  was  suppressed,  small  groups  in  private 
houses  and  elsewhere,  beyond  the  observation 
of  the  authorities,  which  were  often  unknown  to 
each  other,  but  were  under  the  direct  supervision 
of  the  "  Secret  Directory "  itself.  In  order  to 
carry  on  this  organisation  effectively  the  committee 
established  twelve  revolutionary  agents,  the  selec- 
tion of  these  agents  occupying  an  important  part 
of  the  time  of  the  "  Secret  Directory."'  Several 
were  chosen  to  disaffect  the  army,  one  being  selected 
for  each  of  the  battalions  stationed  in  Paris  and 
the  suburbs.  Thus  a  certain  Fion  was  sent  to  the 
Invalides  ;  another,  V^anek,  had  a  roving  commission 
among  the  various  bodies  of  troops  in  the  capital. 

Charles  Germain,  of  whom  we  have  already 
spoken,  and  who  made  Babeuf's  acquaintance  in  the 
prison  of  Arras,  was  allotted  the  task  of  winning  over 
the  legion  of  police ;  and  an  army  captain,  George 
Grisel,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  presently,  was 
appointed  to  work  on  behalf  of  the  "  Secret  Direc- 
tory "  at  that  important  military  centre,  the  camp 
at  Grenelle,  near  Paris,  where  he  himself  was 
stationed.  Grisel  had  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Darthe,  who,  with  Germain,  were  now  the  right 
hands  of  Babeuf  in  the  *'  Secret  Directory  "  in  the 


120  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

matter  of  organisation.  The  Cafe  of  the  "  Bains 
aux  Chinois  "  was  at  the  time  a  rendezvous  of  the 
democratic  party.  It  was  here  that  Grisel,  a  man 
of  plausible  speech,  soon  ingratiated  himself  with 
Darthe  and  the  other  leaders  of  the  Equals,  and 
became  before  long  one  of  their  most  trusted  and 
valued  agents. 

Great  attention  was  now  given  also  to  the  work 
of  general  propaganda  by  means  of  fly-sheets  and 
placards,  the  analysis  of  the  doctrine  of  Babeuf, 
already  given,  being  distributed  and  placarded  in 
great  profusion.  Another  broadsheet  was  entitled 
An  Opinion  on  our  Two  Constitutions — a  letter 
of  France  Libre  to  his  friend  the  Terror.  Yet 
others  were,  Do  we  owe  Obedience  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  year  III.  ?  and  the  Address  of  the 
Tribune  to  the  Army ;  the  Triumph  of  the  French 
People  against  its  Oppressors,  etc.  There  was 
scarcely  a  day  at  this  time  which  did  not  see  some 
new  publication  of  the  Babou^^Lsts.  They  were 
all  eagerly  read  by  thousands,  for  the  distress 
consequent  on  the  startling  depreciation  of  the 
assignats  was  growing  rapidly  every  day.  The 
success  of  the  "  Secret  Directory "  became  now 
everywhere  apparent.  The  secret  or  semi-secret 
groups  founded  by  the  "  Secret  Directory "  had 
borne  such  good  fruit  that  pubhc  meetings  in  the 
streets  and  open  spaces,  in  which  the  Constitution 
of   '93   was   demanded    and    the   new    communi^^u 


THE   SECRET   DIRECTORY         121 

doctrines  discussed,  sprang  up,  as  it  seemed,  spon- 
taneously. 

It  was  now  the  beginning  of  May.  Babeuf 
became  more  than  ever  the  responsible  leader  of 
the  whole  insurrectionary  movement.  He  it  was 
who  almost  exclusively  carried  on  the  correspond- 
ence and  issued  the  instructions  to  his  agents, 
through  the  intermediary  of  a  colleague  and  old 
friend.  Didier.  and  in  his  retreat  were  deposited 
all  the  documents  and  the  official  seal  of  the  con- 
spiracy. It  was  clear  that  the  time  was  becoming 
ripe  for  action.  The  only  question  was  what  form 
the  action  should  take,  and  what  form  of  govern- 
mental organisation  should  be  estabhshed  in  the 
place  of  the  hated  Constitution  of  the  year  III.,  with 
its  executive  directory,  which  it  was  proposed  to 
overthrow.  To  have  called  together  the  primary 
assemblies  at  once  to  elect  a  legislative  body  con- 
formable to  the  Constitution  of  '93  being  imprac- 
ticable, it  was  obvious  that  an  interval  of  time  must 
elapse  between  the  insurrection  and  the  putting  of 
the  constitution  into  force.  The  question  to  be 
decided  therefore  was,  what  form  should  the  interim 
public  authority  take  ?  This  question  of  the  pro- 
visional government  to  be  established  on  the  success 
of  the  coup  de  main,  which  circumstances  now 
pointed  to  as  the  next  important  step  to  be  taken 
by  the  committee,  became  urgent. 

Amar,  the   old  member   of  the  Committee  of 


122  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

General  Security  during  the  revolutionary  period, 
proposed  to  reconstitute  the  National  Convention 
as  the  only  legitimate  authority.  But  since,  by 
arbitrary  acts,  a  certain  section  of  the  Convention 
had  rendered  their  authority  null  and  void,  and 
since  a  large  number  of  the  original  members,  to 
wit,  those  constituting  the  old  party  of  the  JMoun- 
tain,  had  been  driven  out,  exiled,  or  deprived  of 
their  political  rights  by  the  usurping  dominant 
power,  he  proposed  to  recall  all  those  members  of 
the  Convention  who  had  been  expelled  and  declared 
ineligible  for  re-election,  together  with  that  third  of 
the  old  Convention  at  the  time  of  its  dissolution, 
which,  not  having  formed  part  of  the  new  legislative 
body  (namely,  the  Council  of  "Five  Hundred  and 
the  Ancients "),  had  not  been  responsible  for  the 
usurpation.  To  this  it  was  objected  that  many 
of  those  it  was  proposed  to  readmit  had  been 
guilty  of  arbitrary  acts  in  their  capacity  of  Thermi- 
doreans,  such  as  the  closing  of  the  popular  societies, 
the  proscription  of  good  democrats,  the  reintro- 
duction  into  the  Convention  of  the  seventy-three  ex- 
pelled Girondins,  and  the  liberation  of  aristocratic 
conspirators,  etc. 

These  and  other  considerations  were  deemed  by 
the  committee  as  a  whole  to  outweigh  the  advan- 
tages to  be  gained  by  the  movement  in  giving  it 
a  certain  colour  of  legality,  which,  it  was  admitted, 
was  before  all  things  desirable  to  prevent  the  return 


THE    SECRET   DIRECTORY         123 

of  the  reaction.  To  this  end  men  were  wanted  at 
the  helm  of  affairs,  and  to  effect  a  control  over  them, 
whose  principles  and  whose  courage  were  alike 
beyond  suspicion  ;  hence  the  '•  Secret  Directory  " 
decided  that  the  insurgents  in  Paris  should  elect  a 
provisional  authority  to  which  the  government  of 
the  nation  should  be  confided,  until  such  time  as 
it  was  possible  to  put  the  Constitution  of  '93  into 
force.  The  question  of  the  form  this  provincial 
government  should  take  in  a  narrower  sense  still 
remained  to  be  decided.  Debon  and  Darthe  pro- 
posed the  dictatorship  of  one  man.  In  support 
of  their  ideas,  the  inevitable  examples  from  Roman 
history  were  put  forward  by  them,  while  they 
drew  a  warning  as  to  the  disastrous  results  of 
divided  councils  from  the  divisions  in  the  late 
Committee  of  Pubhc  Safety  during  the  Terror. 
However,  the  proposition  was  not  favourably 
received  by  the  committee  as  a  whole,  and  so  it  . 
was  decided  that  the  provisional  government 
should  consist  of  a  committee  with  a  limited 
number  of  members.  The  conspirators  met 
nearly  every  evening  in  the  house  where  Babeuf 
was  concealed.  Babeuf  himself  was  formally 
recognised  as  the  leader  of  the  movement,  with 
whom  was  deposited  the  documents  and  the 
correspondence  of  the  organisation  and  the  official 
seal  of  the  conspiracy,  which  bore  the  words 
"  Salut  Publique  "  on  the  border,  and  with  which 


124  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

every  important  document  had  to  be  stamped 
before  transmission  to  the  revolutionary  agent 
for  whom  it  was  destined.  The  following  is  given 
by  Buonarroti  as  the  usual  agenda  of  the  meet- 
ings : — 1.  Reports  of  agents,  and  replies  thereto. 
2.  Documents  to  be  printed.  3.  Propositions  on 
the  form  of  the  insurrection.  4.  The  tendency  of 
the  legislation  to  be  followed.  5.  The  institutions 
and  organisation  of  the  Republic.  Decisions  were 
taken  by  a  simple  majority,  and  were  consigned  to  a 
register,  in  which,  however,  no  signatures  appeared. 

To  this  period  probably  belongs  the  following 
draft  of  a  Constitution  found  amongst  the  papers 
seized  in  connection  with  the  conspiracy.  The 
two  decrees  there  given  are  interesting,  as  affording 
us  a  glimpse,  the  second  especially,  into  the  ulterior 
programme  of  the  movement. 

The  documents  in  question  each  bear  the  head- 
ing— "  Equality,  Liberty,  Universal  Well-being." 

"  Considering  that  the  people  has  long  been 
lulled  with  empty  promises,  and  that  it  is  time  at 
last  to  set  to  work  actively  on  behalf  of  its  welfare, 
the  only  object  of  the  revolution  : 

"  Considering  that  the  majestic  insurrection  of 
this  day  shall  once  for  all  make  an  end  of  want, 
the  constant  source  of  all  oppression,  the  Insurrec- 
tionary Committee  of  Universal  \A^elfare  orders  as 
follows : — 

"I.  On  the   success  of  the   insurrection,  those 


THE   SECRET   DIRECTORY         125 

poorer  citizens  whose  present  habitations  are  in- 
sufficient shall  not  return  again  to  their  old  places 
of  abode,  but  shall  be  quartered  immediately  in  the 
houses  of  the  conspirators  [by  '  conspirators '  is 
understood  here  the  parties  actually  in  power] : 

"II.  The  furniture  of  the  above-mentioned  rich 
shall  serve  the  purpose  of  providing  the  sans- 
culottes with  sufficient  household  effiscts  : 

"III.  The  revolutionary  committees  of  Paris 
are  empowered  to  take  the  necessary  steps  for  the 
immediate  and  accurate  carrying  out  of  the  above 
decree. " 

The  draft  of  another  decree,  bearing  the  same 
motto  and  superscription,  ordains  as  follows  : — 

"  I.  A  great  national  community  of  goods  shall 
be  established  in  the  republic.  A  national  com- 
munity of  goods  comprises  the  following  objects : 
Such  property  as  has  been  declared  national 
property,  and  which  was  not  yet  sold  on  the  9th  of 
Thermidor,  year  II. :  II.  Such  effects  of  the 
enemies  of  the  revolution,  according  to  the  decrees 
of  the  8th  and  13th  Ventose  of  the  year  II.,  as  were 
reserved  to  the  poor ;  such  as,  in  consequence  of 
a  judicial  decision,  have  accrued  to  the  republic,  or 
as  shall  do  so  later  on ;  buildings  at  present  used 
for  public  services ;  such  property  as  before  the 
law  of  1793  belonged  to  the  communes;  such 
property  as  appertains  to  hospitals,  or  to  public 
educational  institutions  ;  such  effects  as  have  been 


126  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

voluntarily  given  to  the  republic  by  their  proprie- 
tors ;  the  property  of  those  who  have  enriched 
themselves  in  administering  public  functions ;  lands 
left  uncultivated  by  their  proprietors :  III.  The 
right  of  inheritance  is  abolished ;  all  property  at 
present  belonging  to  private  persons  on  their  death 
falls  to  the  national  community  of  goods  :  IV".  As 
existing  property  ovi^ners,  the  children  of  a  living 
father,  who  have  not  been  called  to  the  army  as  by 
law  ordained,  shall  also  be  reckoned :  V.  Every 
French  citizen,  without  distinction  of  sex,  who  shall 
surrender  all  his  possessions  in  the  country,  and 
who  devotes  his  person  and  work  of  which  he  is 
capable  to  the  country,  is  a  member  of  the  great 
national  community:  VI.  All  who  have  passed 
their  16th  year,  as  well  as  all  who  are  weak  in  health, 
in  so  far  as  they  are  poor,  are  ipso  facto  members  of 
the  national  community :  VII.  Young  persons 
placed  in  the  national  educational  institutions  are 
also  members  of  this  community:  VIII.  The  prop- 
erty belonging  to  the  national  community  shall  be 
exploited  in  common  by  all  its  healthy  members  : 
IX.  The  great  national  community  guarantee  to 
all  its  members  an  equal  and  moderate  existence ; 
it  will  furnish  them  with  all  that  they  require :  X. 
The  republic  invites  all  its  citizens,  by  the  voluntary 
surrender  of  their  possessions  to  the  community, 
to  contribute  to  the  success  of  this  reform :  XI. 
From  [date  not  given]  no  person  may  hold  civil 


THE   SECRET   DIRECTORY         127 

or  military  ofBce  who  is  not  a  member  of  the  com- 
munity :  XII.  A  great  national  community  of 
goods  shall  be  administered  by  locally  elected 
officers,  according  to  the  laws,  and  under  the 
direction  of  the  supreme  administration." 

A  section  follows  on  "  public  works,"  containing 
the  following  articles  : — 

"  I.  Every  member  of  the  community  is  pledged 
to  perform  all  labour  of  which  he  is  capable 
in  agriculture  and  in  industry:  II.  Those  are 
excepted  who  have  passed  their  sixtieth  year,  as 
also  the  weak  in  health  :  III.  Those  citizens  who, 
in  consequence  of  the  voluntary  surrender  of  their 
possessions,  have  become  members  of  the  national 
community,  will  not  be  compelled  to  any  coarse 
labour  if  they  have  passed  their  fortieth  year,  and 
have  practised  no  handicraft  before  the  publication 
of  this  decree :  IV.  In  every  community  the 
citizens  shall  be  divided  into  classes,  of  which  so 
many  shall  be  formed  as  there  are  useful  callings  ; 
each  class  shall  comprise  all  persons  carrying  on 
the  same  calling :  V.  Each  class  has  to  elect  its 
own  officers  from  its  members ;  these  officers  shall 
control  the  labour  and  see  to  equal  distribution  of 
the  same,  shall  carry  out  the  regulations  of  the 
communal  authorities,  and  shall  affiard  an  example 
of  zeal  and  industry  :  VI.  The  law  shall  determine 
for  each  season  the  length  of  the  working  day : 
VII.  In  every  existing  communal  governing  body 


128  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

shall  exist  a  council  of  elders  delegated  from  the 
different  callings ;  this  council  shall  advise  the 
executive  body,  especially  as  to  the  distribution, 
the  more  agreeable  arrangement,  and  the  improve- 
ment of  the  conditions  of  labour:  VIII.  The 
executive  authority  shall  introduce  into  the  work 
of  the  community  the  application  of  such  machines 
and  processes  of  labour  as  are  suited  to  relieve 
the  burden  of  human  toil :  IX.  The  communal 
authority  shall  supervise  continually  the  condition 
of  the  working  classes,  and  the  arrangements  within 
its  province,  and  shall  furnish  a  report  to  the  central 
authority  regularly  concerning  the  matter :  X. 
The  transfers  of  workers  from  one  community  to 
another  will  be  carried  out  by  the  central  authority, 
on  the  basis  of  its  knowledge  of  the  capacities 
and  needs  of  the  community :  XI.  The  central 
community  shall  hold,  under  the  supervision  of  the 
communes,  at  whose  initiative  it  shall  act,  those 
persons,  of  either  sex,  to  compulsory  labour  whose 
deficient  sense  of  citizenship,  or  whose  laziness, 
luxury,  and  laxity  of  conduct,  may  have  afforded 
injurious  example :  their  fortunes  shall  accrue  to 
the  national  community  of  goods :  XII.  The 
foremen  of  each  class  shall  furnish  the  storehouses 
of  the  community  with  such  products  of  agriculture 
and  industry  as  it  may  be  necessary  to  keep  in 
hand :  XIII.  As  to  the  amount  of  this  stored 
wealth,  an  accurate  report  shall  be  made  regularly 


THE   SECRET   DIRECTORY        129 

to  the  central  authority  :  XIV.  The  administrators 
belonging  to  the  agricultural  class  shall  watch  over 
the  breeding  and  improvement  of  such  animals  as 
are  useful  for  nourishment,  clothing,  transport,  and 
relief  of  toil." 

"  Of  the  distribution  and  utilisation  of  the  pro- 
perty of  the  community : — 

"  I.  No  member  of  the  community  may  claim 
more  for  himself  than  the  law,  through  the  inter- 
mediary of  the  authorities,  allows  him :  II.  The 
national  community  assures  from  this  time  to 
each  of  its  members  a  healthy,  convenient,  and 
well-furnished  dwelling ;  clothes  for  work  and 
clothes  for  leisure,  of  linen  or  wool,  as  the  national 
costume  demands;  washing,  lighting,  heating;  a 
sufficient  quantity  of  the  means  of  nourishment, 
as  bread,  meat,  poultry,  fish,  eggs,  butter,  or  oil, 
wine  and  other  drinks,  such  as  are  customary  in 
different  districts ;  vegetables,  fruits,  spices,  and 
other  comestibles,  such  as  belong  to  a  moderate 
and  frugal  station ;  medical  aid  :  III.  In  every 
commune  public  meals  should  be  held  at  stated 
times,  which  members  of  the  community  shall  be 
required  to  attend  :  IV.  Civil  and  military  officers 
shall  receive  the  same  treatment  as  other  members 
of  the  national  community :  V.  Every  member 
of  the  national  community  who  accepts  payment 
or  treasures  up  money  shall  be  punished :  VI. 
The  members  of  the  national  community  should 

9 


130  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

only  receive  the  commune  rations  in  the  district 
in  which  they  reside,  except  in  cases  where  pubHc 
authority  shall  have  sanctioned  change  of  residence : 
VII.  Existing  citizens  shall  be  deemed  to  have 
their  domicile  in  the  commune  where  they  are  on 
the  publication  of  the  present  decree  ;  the  domicile 
of  the  pupils  brought  up  in  the  national  educational 
institutions  shall  be  in  the  commune  in  which  they 
were  born  :  VIII.  In  every  commune  there  shall 
be  officials  who  shall  distribute  to  the  members  of 
the  national  community  the  products  of  agriculture 
and  industry,  and  convey  such  to  their  dwellings : 
IX.  The  principles  of  this  distribution  shall  be 
determined  by  law." 

"  Of  the  management  of  the  national  community 
of  goods : — 

"  I.  A  national  community  of  goods  stands 
under  the  legal  direction    of  the   highest   power : 

II.  As  regards  the  management  of  the  community 
of    goods,   the   republic   is   divided   into   regions : 

III.  A  region  comprises  all  adjoining  departments 
which  furnish  nearly  the  same  kind  of  products : 

IV.  In  every  region  a  subordinate  management 
for  the  purposes  of  mediation  shall  be  appointed, 
to  which  the  directing  bodies  of  each  department 
shall  be  subordinated :  V.  Telegraph  lines  shall 
serve  to  expedite  communication  between  the  man- 
agement of  departments,  and  the  intermediate  man- 
agement and  the  supreme  management."     [Crude 


THE   SECRET    DIRECTORY        131 

forms  of  telegraphy,  by  means  of  signalling  and 
otherwise,  had  already  been  invented  and  experi- 
mented with  (although  not  turned  to  general  prac- 
tical account)  in  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  introduction  of  the  modern  electric 
telegraphic  system  in  general  use  dates  from  more 
than  a  generation  later  than  Babeuf  s  time.]  "  VI. 
The  supreme  management  shall  determine,  ac- 
cordiner  to  law,  the  manner  and  extent  of  the 
apportionment  of  goods  to  the  members  of  the 
different  regions :  VII.  On  the  basis  of  these 
regulations,  the  departmental  managements  shall 
report  to  the  intermediate  managements  the  deficit 
or  excess  of  products  in  their  several  arrondisse- 
ments :  VIII.  The  intermediary  managements 
shall  equalise,  as  far  as  possible,  the  deficit  of 
one  department  by  the  excess  of  another ;  shall 
give  the  necessary  instructions,  and  furnish  the 
supreme  management  with  general  accounts  of 
their  deficit  or  excess  :  IX.  The  supreme  manage- 
ment shall  supply  the  needs  of  those  regions  having 
a  deficit  by  the  difference  from  those  having  a 
surplus,  or  by  foreign  exchanges  :  X.  Before  every- 
thing else,  the  supreme  management  shall  cause  the 
tithe  of  the  total  produce  of  the  community  to  be 
appropriated  and  stored  in  the  warehouses  of  the 
military  authority  every  year  :  XI.  Care  shall  be 
taken  that  the  surplus  of  the  republic  shall  be  con- 
scientiously held  in  reserve  for  years  of  bad  harvests." 


132  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

"  Of  Trade. — I.  All  private  trade  with  foreign 
countries  is  forbidden ;  commodities  entering  the 
country  in  this  way  will  be  confiscated  for  the 
benefit  of  the  national  community ;  those  acting 
to  the  contrary  will  be  punished  :  II.  The  republic 
shall  acquire  for  the  national  community  those 
objects  of  which  it  has  need  by  exchanging  its 
surplus  of  agricultural  and  industrial  products 
against  those  of  other  nations :  III.  For  this 
purpose  suitable  warehouses  shall  be  erected  on 
the  frontiers  and  on  the  coasts  :  IV.  The  supreme 
management  effects  foreign  trade  by  means  of  its 
agents ;  it  has  the  surplus  which  it  wishes  to 
exchange  warehoused  in  the  above  buildings,  in 
which  also  commodities  ordered  from  abroad  shall 
be  received :  V.  The  appointed  agents  of  the 
supreme  management  in  the  trade  warehouses 
shall  be  often  changed.  Untrustworthy  officials 
shall  be  severely  punished." 

"  Of  Transport. — I.  In  every  commune  there 
shall  be  officers  appointed  to  superintend  the  trans- 
port of  communal  goods  from  one  commune  to 
another:  II.  Every  commune  shall  be  provided 
with  adequate  means  for  water  and  for  land 
transport:  III.  The  members  of  the  national 
community  will  be  ordered  in  turn  to  supervise 
and  carry  out  the  conveying  of  goods  from  one 
commune  to  the  other:  IV.  Every  year  the 
intermediary    managements    shall    commission    a 


THE   SECRET   DIRECTORY         133 

certain  number  of  young  people  from  all  the 
departments  under  their  care  to  deal  with  the  more 
remote  transport  of  goods :  V.  The  maintenance 
of  the  citizen  concerned  with  transport  service 
devolves  upon  the  commune  where  he  happens  to 
be  at  the  moment:  VI.  The  supreme  manage- 
ment shall  see  to  it  that  the  conveyance  of  goods 
serving  to  supply  the  deficit  of  those  regions  which 
are  in  want  shall  be  carried  out  as  expeditiously 
as  possible,  under  the  superintendence  of  the 
intermediary  management. 

"  Of  Taxes. — I.  Only  persons  not  belonging  to 
the  community  are  liable  to  taxation:  II.  They 
have  to  pay  the  taxes  previously  fixed:  III. 
These  taxes  are  to  be  paid  in  kind,  and  to  be 
delivered  to  the  warehouses  of  the  national 
community  :  IV.  The  total  contributions  of  those 
liable  to  taxation  is  each  year  to  be  double 
that  of  the  previous  year :  V.  This  total  contri- 
bution shall  be  distributed  over  all  persons  liable 
to  taxation,  progressively,  on  an  ascending  scale, 
according  to  the  department:  VI.  Non-members 
of  the  community  may,  in  case  of  need,  be  required 
to  advance  the  surplus  of  the  necessaries  of  life 
and  the  products  of  industry,  on  account  of 
future  taxes,  and  deliver  them  into  the  warehouses 
of  the  national  community. 

"  Of  Debts. — I.  The  national  debt  is  extin- 
guished for  all  Frenchmen:     II.  The  republic  will 


134  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

reimburse  to  foreigners  the  capital  value  of  the 
funds  it  owes  them.  Until  this  is  done  it  will 
continue  to  pay  interest  on  the  loans  contracted  by 
it,  also  annuities  payable  to  foreigners  :  III.  The 
debts  of  every  Frenchman  who  is  a  member  of  the 
national  community  towards  another  Frenchman 
are  annulled :  IV.  The  republic  shall  assume  the 
responsibility  for  the  debts  of  members  of  the 
community  towards  foreigners :  V^.  Every  fraud 
in  this  respect  shall  be  punished  with  penal  servi- 
tude for  life. 

"  O/*  Finance. — I.  The  republic  coins  no  more 
money :  II.  Such  money  as  accrues  to  the 
national  community  shall  be  utilised  for  the 
purpose  of  purchasing  commodities  required  by 
the  community  from  foreign  nations  :  III.  Every 
individual  not  belonging  to  the  community  who  is 
convicted  of  having  offered  money  to  one  of  its 
members  shall  be  severely  punished  :  IV.  Neither 
gold  nor  silver  shaU  be  in  future  imported  into 
the  republic." 

The  foregoing  document,  which  was  never  more 
than  a  draft,  may  or  may  not  have  been  drawn  up 
by  Babeuf  himself  In  any  case  it  is  instructive, 
as  illustrative  of  the  notions  of  socialistic  reorganis- 
ation held  by  the  most  clear-thinking  heads  of  the 
party  of  Equals,  and  not  less  of  eighteenth- century 
sociology  in  general.  The  common  fallacy  in- 
herent in  the  latter,  and  in  which  the  Babouvists 


THE   SECRET   DIRECTORY         135 

shared,  was  the  notion  that  a  new  society  could  be 
voluntarily   built  up  overnight,  based  on  abstract 
concepts,   and   finished  off  in   its   details,   by   the 
artistic    sense   of  a   few   capable   leaders.      What 
further  strikes  us  in  reading  the  Babouvists'  mani- 
festoes, drafts,  and   programmes,    as   in  the  other 
proposals   and   speeches    of  the   time   bearing   on 
social    reform   or   revolution,    is   the    comparative 
simplicity   of  the   economic   structure    of  society 
before  the  rise  of  the  great  machine-industry,  and 
all  that  the  latter  has  involved.     As  William  Morris 
used  to  say,  the  change  in  social  conditions  between 
the  first  Egyptian   dynasty   and   the    end   of  the 
eighteenth    century   was,   take   it  all   in   all,   less 
profound   than   the   change   between    the    end    of 
the   eighteenth   and   the    end   of    the   nineteenth 
centuries.     The  theory  of  the  Equals,  as  that  of 
their   successors,   the    Utopian    Socialists    of    the 
earlier  nineteenth  century,  was  a  scheme  of  social 
reconstruction.      To-day,  in  the  earlier  twentieth 
century,   we   have   done  with  schemes.      Modern 
Socialism  has  no  scheme :  it  has  certain  principles, 
and  certain  tactics  and  methods  of  action  for  the 
furtherance  and   carrying  out  of  those  principles, 
but  as  to  the  precise  construction  of  the  detail  of 
life   in   the  society  of  the  future   it   ventures   no 
prophecy.        The    complexity    of    modern    social 
conditions  and  our  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  of 
evolution   in    general,   and   of    its   application   to 


136  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

historical  growth  in  particular,  has  taught  us  the 
futility  and  puerility  of  attempts,  however  well- 
meaning,  to  mechanically  mould  conditions  of  Ufe 
which   must  be   dependent  in  great  part  at  least 
upon   a   complex   series   of   unforeseeable   events. 
To   criticise  the  draft  programme  above  given  in 
detail    would    serve    no    purpose.      The    general 
sentiment  and  view  of  hfe  of  the  petit  bourgeois, 
of  the  frugal,  thrifty,  simple-living  peasant,  small 
master,  or  independent   craftsman,  dominates  the 
whole,    as    it     dominated    contemporary    revolu- 
tionary thought  generally.      The  only  point  that 
was  new   in  the  theory  of  the   Equals,  and  that 
showed  a  unique  foresight,  at  least  in  one  respect, 
with  Babeuf  and  his  friends,  was  the  notion  of  the 
transformation  of  the  entire  French  republic,  by 
the  seizure  of  the  political  power,  into  one  great 
communistic     society,    thereby     anticipating    the 
modern  notion  of  the  dependence  of  organic  social 
change  on  political  means. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    PROJECTED    INSURRECTION    AND    ITS    PLAN 

One  of  the  most  important  of  the  immediate 
objects  now  to  be  attained  was  deemed  to  be  the 
adhesion  of  a  sufficient  number  of  the  military ;  and 
indeed  there  was  some  reason  for  the  Babouvists 
to  hope  that  they  might  gain  over  a  considerable 
contingent  of  the  armed  forces  at  the  disposal  of 
the  government.  On  the  success  of  the  projected 
coup  d'etat,  the  people  of  Paris  were  to  elect  a 
national  assembly,  clothed  with  supreme  authority, 
and  composed  of  one  democrat  for  each  depart- 
ment, to  be  nominated  by  the  committee  or  "Secret 
Directory,"  which  would  not  dissolve,  but  would 
continue  to  watch  over  the  conduct  of  the  National 
Assembly. 

Not^^dthstanding  the  efforts  made  to  gain  over 
the  army,  the  possibility  of  a  collision  with  the 
armed  force  of  the  government  was  not  left  out 
of  sight.  To  this  end  members  of  the  old  Jacobin 
party  were  summoned  from  all  over  France  to 
come  to  Paris  and  hold  themselves  ready  for  the 

137 


138  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

signal  of  the  insurrection.  Lyons  was  especially 
regarded  by  the  conspirators  as  a  field  of  recruit- 
ment, and  they  were  in  constant  communication 
with  the  former  mayor  of  the  city,  Bertrand,  who 
was  untiring  in  stimulating  the  interest  of  the 
Jacobins  of  the  city  in  the  new  movement.  Mean- 
while, in  Paris  itself,  secret  stores  of  arms  and 
ammunition  were  prepared,  and  the  means  of  access 
to  government  stores  were  carefully  noted. 

The  government  party,  on  its  side,  was  divided 
into  two  main  centres,  the  nouveauoc  riches^  the 
men  who  had  enriched  themselves  by  the  Revolu- 
tion, who  had  annexed  to  themselves  vast  portions 
of  the  wealth  of  the  nobility  and  clergy,  and  who 
dreaded  equally  the  return  to  the  ancien  regime 
and  the  ascendancy  of  those  who  might  be  disposed 
to  sympathise  with  it,  and  the  advent  again  to 
control  of  the  State  of  the  popular  revolutionary 
forces.  In  either  case  their  security  of  possession 
was  threatened.  Among  the  leaders  of  this  party 
of  the  new  wealthy  middle-class,  there  may  again 
be  mentioned  Barras,  Tallien,  Legendre,  Freron, 
Merlin  de  Thionville,  and  Rewbell — as  will  be  seen, 
mainly  renegades  of  the  old  revolutionary  party  of 
the  Mountain.  In  opposition  to  this  party,  which 
at  the  moment  was  dominant,  were  the  Con- 
servatives, the  sympathisers  with  the  ancien  regime^ 
to  whom  had  rallied  many  of  the  old  moderates, 
and  notably  the  former  members  of  the  Girondin 


THE   PROJECTED   INSURRECTION    189 

party,  who  had  been  reinstated  in  the  Convention 
after  Thermidor,  and  who  formed  a  centre  of  the 
Conservative  block,  together  with  old  men  of 
the  plain,  Boissy  d'Anglas,  Thibaudeau,  Camille 
Jourdan,  etc.  On  this  section  of  the  councils 
the  hopes  of  the  Royalists  largely  rested.  They 
were  prepared,  however,  as  a  party,  to  adopt 
violent  methods  if  they  saw  any  chance  of  success 
in  such  a  course.  On  their  side  the  dominant 
faction,  the  party  of  the  nouveaux  riches,  as  I  have 
termed  them,  did  not  hesitate,  by  means  of  orators 
and  journalists,  to  denounce  all  opposed  to  them- 
selves as  enemies  of  the  Republic,  confounding 
in  the  same  category  the  old  revolutionary  party, 
now  represented  by  the  Babouvists,  and  the 
Royalists,  who  were  openly  plotting  the  restoration 
of  the  monarchy,  and  all  it  implied.  Babeuf  had 
already  exposed  this  trick  in  one  of  the  last 
numbers  of  the  Tribun  du  Peuple. 

Just  at  this  time,  to  complicate  matters,  the 
"  Secret  Directory "  was  confronted  with  a  rival 
conspiracy  on  the  part  of  certain  members  of  the  old 
party  of  the  IVIountain  in  the  Convention,  who  had 
been  driven  out  of  the  latter  body,  and  been  declared 
ineligible  for  election  to  the  new  councils,  and 
who,  it  was  said,  were  taking  steps  to  obtain  control 
of  the  insurrectionary  movement.  The  "  Secret 
Directory  "  was  thus  placed  in  a  position  of  some 
difficulty.     Its  members  were  indisposed  to  hand 


140  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

over  the  control  to  a  miscellaneous  committee  of 
men,  of  some  of  whom  the  views  were  doubtful, 
and  others  of  whom  were  unreliable  in  a  political 
crisis,  owing  to  weakness  of  character.  At  the 
same  time,  the  fact  remained  that  these  men,  all 
of  them,  had  suffered  from  being  true  to  the 
democracy ;  that  they  were  honest,  and  that  their 
sympathies  at  least  were  in  general  sound.  The 
Babouvist  leaders  therefore  decided  to  steer  a 
middle  course.  They  instructed  their  agents  to 
caution  the  populace  against  any  movement  which 
might  emanate  from  these  persons,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  circumvent,  by  warnings  and  otherwise, 
any  attempts  of  the  government  to  lay  hands  on 
them,  attempts  of  which  they  were  duly  notified 
by  their  own  spies  in  the  ministry  of  the  police. 

Meanwhile,  the  new  democratic  movement  had 
become  so  menacing  that  both  of  the  reactionary 
parties  alike  found  it  prudent  to  bury  their  hatchet, 
and  to  join  forces  against  the  common  enemy. 
No  stone  was  left  unturned  in  the  matter  of  vilifi- 
cation. The  leaders  were  venal,  it  was  said ;  they 
aimed  at  throwing  France  into  a  state  of  anarchy, 
with  the  double  object  of  enriching  themselves  by 
plunder  in  the  general  scramble,  and  of  earning 
their  wages  with  the  Royalists  by  paving  the  way 
for  the  return  of  the  monarchy.  The  calumnies 
were  not  only  repeated  at  large  by  the  agents  of 
the    government,    but    the    executive    Directory 


THE   PROJECTED    INSURRECTION    141 

emphasised  them  in  an  official  manifesto.  Having 
in  this  way  struck  terror  into  the  minds  of  the 
timid  and  well-to-do  population  generally,  but 
above  all  into  the  members  of  the  two  councils, 
on  the  27th  and  28th  of  Germinal  the  Directory 
laid  two  bills  before  the  councils,  embodying 
clauses  of  the  most  stringent  character  against 
the  right  of  public  meeting  and  public  discussion. 
These  drastic  laws  were  passed  the  same  day 
without  modification  in  the  Council  of  Five 
Hundred,  with  only  a  minority  of  twelve  against 
them,  and  in  the  Council  of  the  Ancients  with 
unanimity.  It  now  became  practically  impossible 
to  carry  on  the  work  of  propaganda  and  organisa- 
tion.    The  final  struggle  had  already  begun. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  the  cry  went 
out  amongst  the  democrats  that  the  day  had  come 
to  live  free  or  to  die.  But,  however,  our  Babouvists' 
committee,  the  Secret  Directory,  hesitated  even 
now  to  give  the  signal  for  action,  as  it  was 
anxious  to  make  sure  of  having  all  the  threads 
of  the  movement  in  its  hands  before  striking. 
Sufficient  discipline  reigned  in  the  popular  move- 
ment itself,  combined  with  a  sufficient  confidence 
in  the  heads  of  the  conspiracy,  to  prevent  a  pre- 
mature outbreak.  It  was  evident  now  that  the 
revolution  would  have  to  be  accomplished  by  a 
coup  de  main.  The  design  of  the  Secret  Directory 
was  to  proceed  at  once  to  make  an  example  of  the 


142  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

heads  of  the  usurping  power  of  the  executive 
Directory  (of  government),  together  with  the 
whole  machinery  of  the  illegitimate  constitution  of 
the  year  III.,  the  opening  act  of  severity  to  be 
followed  by  an  immediate  amnesty.  It  was 
decided  that  on  the  day  decreed  for  the  rising  to 
take  place,  banners  should  be  distributed  to  the 
revolutionary  agents,  and  that  in  the  name  of  the 
Insurrectionary  Committee  of  the  "  Secret  Direc- 
tory "  a  proclamation  should  be  issued  threatening 
the  death  of  anyone  carrying  out  an  order  of  the 
usurpatory  government.  Babeuf  and  his  friends 
would  thus  place  themselves  at  the  head  of  the 
movement.  Finally,  after  a  long  and  earnest 
discussion,  the  following  manifesto  was  adopted,  the 
publication  of  which  throughout  Paris  was  to  be 
the  signal  for  the  general  rising.  It  was  headed, 
"  Act  of  Insurrection  "  {Acte  Insuri'ecteur)  and  was 
as  follows : — 

"  French  Democrats  !  Considering  that  the  op- 
pression and  misery  of  the  people  has  reached  its 
height ;  that  the  state  of  tyranny  and  misfortune 
is  due  to  the  actual  government ; 

"  Considering  that  the  numerous  crimes  of  govern- 
ments have  always  excited  against  them  the  daily 
and  always  useless  complaints  of  the  governed ; 

"  Considering  that  the  Constitution  sworn  to  by 
the  people  in  1793  was  placed  by  it  under  the  pro- 
tection of  all   the   virtues ;   that   in   consequence, 


THE   PROJECTED    INSURRECTION    143 

when  the  entire  people  has  lost  all  the  means 
guaranteeing  it  against  despotism,  it  is  the  most 
courageous,  the  most  intrepid  virtue  to  take  the 
initiative  of  insurrection,  and  to  direct  the  en- 
franchisement of  the  masses ; 

"  Considering  that  the  '  rights  of  man,'  recognised 
at  the  same  epoch  of  '93,  accord  to  the  whole  people, 
or  to  each  of  its  sections,  as  the  most  sacred  of 
rights,  and  the  most  indispensable  of  duties,  to 
rise  in  insurrection  against  any  government  that 
violates  its  rights,  and  that  they  enjoin  every  free 
man  to  put  to  instant  death  those  who  usurp  the 
sovereignty ; 

"  Considering  that  a  faction  has  conspired  to  usurp 
the  sovereignty,  in  substituting  its  private  will  for 
the  public  will,  freely  and  legally  expressed  in  the 
primary  assemblies  of  1793,  in  imposing  on  the 
French  people,  by  means  of  the  persecution  and 
the  assassination  of  all  the  friends  of  liberty,  an 
execrable  code  called  'the  Constitution  of  Anno 
III.'  (1795),  in  place  of  the  democratic  pact  of 
1793,  which  had  been  accepted  with  so  much 
enthusiasm ; 

"  Considering  the  tyi'annical  Code  of  1795  vio- 
lates the  most  precious  rights,  in  that  it  establishes 
distinction  between  citizens,  interdicts  their  right 
to  sanction  laws,  to  change  the  constitution,  and 
to  assemble  themselves  in  public  meeting,  limits 
their  liberty  in  the  choice   of  public  agents,  and 


144  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

leaves  them  no  guarantee  against  the  usurpation  of 
rulers ; 

"  Considering  that  the  authors  of  this  atrocious 
code  have  established  themselves  in  a  state  of 
determined  rebellion  against  the  people,  since  they 
have  arrogated  to  themselves,  in  contempt  of  the 
supreme  will,  that  authority  which  the  nation  alone 
has  the  right  to  confer  ;  that  they  have  created  either 
themselves  or,  with  the  aid  of  a  handful  of  factious 
persons  and  the  enemies  of  the  people,  on  the  one 
hand,  kings  under  a  disguised  name,  and  on  the 
other,  independent  legislators ; 

"  Considering  that  these  oppressors,  after  having 
done  everything  to  demoralise  the  people,  after 
having  outraged,  abused,  and  destroyed  the  attri- 
butes and  institutions  of  liberty  and  democracy, 
after  having  assassinated  the  best  friends  of  the 
public,  recalled  and  protected  its  most  atrocious 
enemies,  pillaged  and  exhausted  the  public  treasury, 
drained  all  the  national  resources,  totally  dis- 
credited the  public  money,  made  the  most  in- 
famous bankruptcy,  handed  over  to  the  avidity  of 
the  rich  the  last  remnants  of  the  unfortunate,  who 
have  been  for  well-nigh  two  years  past  dying  of 
hunger  every  day,  not  content  with  so  many  crimes, 
have  come  now,  by  a  refinement  of  tyranny,  to  rob 
the  people  of  their  right  of  complaint ; 

"Considering  that  they  have  instigated  and 
favoured  plots  for  continuing  the  civil  war  in  the 


THE   PROJECTED    INSURRECTION    145 

departments  of  the  west,  while  deceiving  the 
nation  with  a  patched-up  peace,  of  which  the  secret 
articles  stipulated  conditions  contrary  to  the  will, 
dignity,  security,  and  interest,  of  the  French 
people ; 

"  Considering  that,  quite  recently,  they  have 
in\'ited  to  themselves  a  crowd  of  foreigners,  and 
that  all  the  principal  conspirators  of  Europe  are  at 
this  moment  in  Paris  in  order  to  consummate  the 
last  act  of  the  counter-revolution  ; 

"  Considering  that  they  have  disbanded  and 
treated  with  indignity  those  battalions  that  have 
had  the  virtue  to  refuse  to  second  them  in  their 
atrocious  designs  against  the  people ;  that  they 
have  dared  to  indict  those  who  are  brave  soldiers, 
who  have  displayed  the  most  energy  against  oppres- 
sion, and  that  they  have  joined  to  this  infamy  that 
of  ascribmg  their  generous  resistance  to  the  will  of 
tyrants,  to  royalist  inspiration  ; 

"  Considering  that  it  would  be  difficult  and  take 

too  long  to  follow  and  to  retrace  completely  the 

course  of  this  criminal  government,  every  thought 

and  every  act  of  which  is  a  national  offence,  but 

that  proofs  of  all  these  crimes  are  traced  in  letters 

of  blood  throughout  the  whole  Republic,  and  that 

from  all  the  departments  unanimous  cries  demand 

its  suppression,  it  pertains  to  that  portion  of  the 

citizens  who  are  nearest  the  oppressors  to  attack 

the  oppression ;   that  this   portion   bears   in  trust 

10 


146  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

liberty  for  which  it  is  responsible  towards  the 
whole  State,  and  that  too  long  silence  would  render 
it  the  accomplice  of  tyranny  ; 

"  Considering,  finally,  that  all  the  defenders  of 
liberty  are  ready ; 

"  After  having  constituted  themselves  an  Insur- 
rectionary Committee  of  Public  Safety,  that  has 
taken  upon  its  head  the  responsibility  and  initiative 
of  the  insurrection,  it  is  ordained  as  follows  : — 

"  1.  The  people's  insurrection  is  against  tjTanny. 

"  2.  The  object  of  the  insurrection  is  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  Constitution  of  1793,  the 
liberty,  equality,  and  the  w^ell-being  of  all. 

"  3.  This  day,  this  very  hour,  citizens  and  citi- 
zenesses  will  march  from  all  points  in  their  order, 
without  waiting  for  the  movement  of  neighbouring 
quarters,  which  they  will  cause  to  march  with  them. 
They  will  rally  to  the  sound  of  the  tocsin  and 
trumpets,  under  the  conduct  of  the  patriots  to 
whom  the  Insurrectionary  Committee  shall  have 
confided  banners  bearing  the  inscription — '  The 
Constitution  of  1793  :  Equality,  Liberty,  and 
Co^oioN  Welfare.'  Other  banners  "wall  bear  the 
words  :  '  When  the  Government  violates  the  rights 
of  the  People,  insurrection  is  for  the  People,  and 
for  each  portion  of  the  People,  the  most  sacred  of 
rights  and  the  most  indispensable  of  duties.' 

"  Those  who  usurp  sovereignty  ought  to  be  put 
to  death  by  free  men.     Generals  of  the  people  will 


THE   PROJECTED    INSURRECTION    147 

be  distinguished  by  tricolor  ribands  floating  con- 
spicuously round  their  hats. 

"  4.  All  citizens  shall  repair  with  their  arms,  or 
in  default  of  arms,  with  other  instruments  of  attack, 
under  the  sole  direction  of  the  above  patriots,  to 
the  chief  places  of  their  respective  arrondissements. 

"5.  All  kinds  of  arms  shall  be  seized  by  the 
insurgents  wherever  they  find  them. 

"  6.  The  barriers  of  the  banks  of  the  river  will 
be  carefully  guarded ;  no  one  may  leave  Paris 
without  a  formal  and  special  order  of  the  Insur- 
rectionary Committee;  no  one  shall  enter  but 
couriers,  conductors,  porters,  and  carriers  of  food- 
stuff, to  whom  protection  and  security  will  be 
given. 

"  7.  The  people  shall  seize  the  national  treasury, 
post,  the  houses  of  ministers,  and  every  public  and 
private  building  containing  provisions  or  ammu- 
nition of  war. 

"8.  The  Insurrectionary  Committee  of  Public 
Safety  gives  to  the  sacred  legions  of  the  camps 
surrounding  Paris,  who  have  sworn  to  die  for 
Equality,  the  order  to  sustain  everywhere  the 
efforts  of  the  people. 

"  9.  The  patriots  in  the  departments  fled  to 
Paris,  and  the  brave  officers  who  have  been  dis- 
missed, are  called  upon  to  distinguish  themselves 
in  this  sacred  struggle. 

"  10.    The   two    Councils    and    the    Directory, 


148  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

usurpers  of  popular  authority,  shall  be  dissolved, 
and  all  the  members  composing  them  shall  be 
immediately  judged  by  the  people. 

"  11.  All  power  ceasing  before  that  of  the  people, 
no  pretended  deputy,  member  of  the  usurping 
authority,  director,  administrator,  judge,  officer, 
supporter  of  the  national  guard,  or  any  public 
functionary  whatsoever,  may  exercise  any  act  of 
authority  or  give  any  order :  those  who  act  to  the 
contrary  shall  be  immediately  put  to  death.  Every 
member  of  the  pretended  legislative  body  or 
director  found  in  the  streets  shall  be  arrested  and 
conducted  immediately  to  the  police  office  in  his 
quarter. 

"  12.  All  opposition  shall  be  suppressed  immedi- 
ately by  force.  Those  opposing  shall  be  exter- 
minated ;  those  equally  shall  be  put  to  death  who 
beat  or  cause  to  be  beaten  a  generate ;  foreigners, 
of  whatever  nation,  who  shall  be  found  in  the  streets; 
all  the  presidents,  secretaries,  and  commanders  of 
the  royalist  conspiracy  of  Vendemiaire  who  shall 
dare  to  show  themselves. 

"  13.  All  the  envoys  of  foreign  powers  are 
ordered  to  remain  in  their  houses  during  the 
insurrection :  they  are  under  the  safeguard  of  the 
people. 

"  14.  Provisions  of  all  kinds  shall  be  brought  to 
the  people  in  the  public  places. 

"  15.  All  bakers  shall  be  requisitioned  to  continue 


THE   PROJECTED    INSURRECTION    149 

to  make  bread,  which  shall  be  distributed  gratis 
to  the  people :  they  shall  be  paid  on  their 
declaration. 

"  16.  The  people  shall  not  take  rest  until  after 
the  destruction  of  the  tyrannical  government. 

"  17.  All  the  possessions  of  emigrants,  of  con- 
spirators, and  of  all  the  enemies  of  the  people, 
shall  be  distributed  without  delay  to  the  defenders  of 
the  country  and  the  unfortunate.  The  unfortunate 
of  the  whole  Republic  shall  be  immediately  lodged 
in  the  houses  of  the  conspirators.  The  objects 
belonging  to  the  people  left  in  the  JNIont  de  Piete 
(public  pawn  office)  shall  be  immediately  returned 
gratuitously.  The  French  people  adopts  the  wives 
and  children  of  the  brave  who  shall  have  succumbed 
in  this  holy  enterprise  ;  it  will  nourish  them  and 
bring  them  up  ;  it  shall  do  the  same  as  regards  the 
fathers  and  mothers,  brothers  and  sisters,  to  whose 
existence  they  were  necessary.  The  patriots  pro- 
scribed and  wandering  throughout  the  whole  Re- 
public shall  receive  succour  and  suitable  means  to 
re-enter  the  bosoms  of  their  families.  They  shall 
be  indemnified  for  the  losses  they  have  suffered. 
War  against  eternal  tyranny,  being  that  which  is 
most  opposed  to  the  general  peace,  those  of  the 
brave  defenders  of  liberty  who  shall  have  helped  to 
terminate  it  shall  be  free  to  return  with  arms  and 
baggage  to  their  own  hearths,  where  they  shall 
immediately  enjoy  in  addition  the  rewards  so  long 


150  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

promised  them  ;  those  among  them  who  shall  wish 
to  continue  to  serve  the  Republic  shall  be  also 
immediately  rewarded  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the 
generosity  of  a  great  and  free  nation. 

"  18.  Both  public  and  private  property  shall  be 
placed  under  the  safeguard  of  the  people. 

"19.  The  task  of  ending  the  Revolution,  and  of 
adding  to  the  Republic,  Liberty,  Equality,  and  the 
Constitution  of  1793,  shall  be  confided  to  a 
National  Assembly,  composed  of  one  democrat  to 
each  department,  elected  by  the  insurrectionary 
people,  on  the  nomination  of  the  insurrectionary 
committee. 

"  20.  The  Insurrectionary  Committee  of  Public 
Safety  shall  remain  in  permanence  until  the  com- 
plete accomplishment  of  the  insurrectioil." 

The  intention  was,  on  the  destruction  of  the 
existing  government,  that  the  people  of  Paris 
should  be  called  together  in  general  assembly  in 
the  Place  de  la  Revolution,  where  the  Secret 
Directory  should  give  an  account  of  its  conduct, 
and  should  point  out  as  the  source  of  all  its  evils 
economical  mequality,  and,  after  explaining  the 
advantages  which  might  be  expected  from  the 
realisation  of  the  Constitution  of  1793,  should 
call  upon  the  assembly  to  ratify  the  insurrec- 
tion, after  which  the  provisional  government 
should  be  nominated  by  the  insurrectionary  com- 
mittee for  the  approval  of  the  assembly. 


THE   PROJECTED   INSURRECTION    151 

On  the  newly  elected  Assembly  above  spoken  of 
being  come  together,  it  was  proposed  to  lay  before 
its  members  the  following  decree  or  proclamation  : 
"The  people  of  Paris,  after  ha^^ng  destroyed 
"  tyranny,  using  the  rights  it  had  received  from 
"  nature,  recognises  and  declares  to  the  French 
"  people  that  the  unequal  distribution  of  wealth 
"  and  labour  is  the  inexhaustible  source  of  slavery 
"  and  pubhc  ills  ;  that  the  labour  of  all  is  the  one 
"  essential  condition  of  the  social  contract ;  that 
"  property  in  all  the  wealth  of  France  resides 
"  essentially  in  the  French  people,  who  alone  can 
"  determine  or  change  its  distribution ;  that  it 
"  orders  the  National  Assembly,  which  it  has 
"  created  m  the  interests  and  in  the  name  of  all 
"  Frenchmen,  to  improve  the  Constitution  of  1793, 
"  to  prepare  its  prompt  execution,  and  to  assume, 
"  by  wise  institutions,  founded  on  the  truths  above 
"  cited,  unalterable  equality,  hberty,  and  welfare 
"  for  the  French  RepubUc.  It  enjoins  the  same 
"  assembly  to  render  an  account  to  the  nation,  in 
"  one  year  at  latest,  of  the  execution  of  the  present 
"  decree  ;  and  finally  it  engages  to  cause  the  decrees 
"  of  the  said  Assembly  to  be  respected  in  so  far 
"  as  they  are  conformable  to  the  above  orders,  and 
"  to  punish  with  the  penalty  of  traitors  those  of 
"  its  members  who  shall  depart  from  the  duties 
"  that  it  has  prescribed  for  them." 

Such  were  the  schemes  which  the  Secret  Direc- 


152  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

tory  was  elaborating  in  preparation  for  the  rising. 
Meanwhile,  the  propaganda  with  the  military  made 
rapid  progress,  especially  amongst  the  body  called 
the  "  legion  of  police,"  which  was  supposed  never 
to  be  called  upon  to  leave  Paris.  This  it  was  which 
specially  alarmed  the  government,  the  army  being 
the  last  rampart  between  them  and  the  deluge. 
So  threatening  had  two  battalions  of  the  "  legion  of 
police  "  become,  that  in  violation  of  strict  legality, 
the  Directory  made  an  order  for  them  to  be  re- 
moved from  Paris.  This  order,  which  was  signed 
the  9th  of  Floreal  (the  29th  of  April),  was  followed 
by  immediate  resistance,  accompanied  by  the 
increase  of  agitation  among  the  populace.  At 
this  moment  everything  seemed  to  favour  the 
chances  of  the  insurrection.  The  revolutionary 
agents  suddenly  became  more  numerous  and  active 
than  ever  amongst  the  troops.  There  seemed  a 
fair  chance,  indeed,  of  gaining  over  the  whole  of 
the  Army  of  the  Interior,  as  the  military  forces 
within  and  around  Paris  were  at  this  time  called. 
A  committee  was  even  formed  in  the  legion  of 
police  itself,  in  concert  with  the  Secret  Directory. 
Charles  Germain  was  the  intermediary  between  the 
two  committees.  A  manifesto  of  the  legion  was 
drawn  up,  prepared  for  publication.  Hundreds  of 
democrats  held  themselves  in  readiness ;  when 
suddenly  the  government,  annulling  the  previous 
order,  issued  a  new  one,  disbanding  the  insubordi- 


THE   PROJECTED    INSURRECTION    153 

nate  battalions.  Out  of  the  members  of  these  dis- 
banded battalions,  mostly  composed  of  Hebertists, 
a  revolutionary  advanced  guard  was  formed,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Secret  Directory. 

Matters  now  became  pressing ;  popular  efferves- 
cence and  impatience  had  reached  a  point  where  it 
became  evident  to  the  Secret  Directory  that  further 
delay  would  imperil  the  movement.     Accordingly, 
on  the  11th  of  Floreal  (the  1st  of  May)  our  Secret 
Directory    convoked    some    military    advisers,   to 
wit,  Fion,  Germain,  Rossignol,  INIassart,  and  Grisel, 
to  the  last  mentioned  of  whom  much  importance 
was  attached,  owing  to  the  influence  he  was  believed 
to  have  in  the  camp  at  Grenelle.     This  important 
meeting    was    attended    by    Babeuf,    Buonarroti, 
Debon,    Darthe,   Marechal,   and    Didier.     To   the 
five  officers  was  entrusted  the  task  of  directing  the 
military  side  of  the  insurrection.     They  formed  a 
committee  which  held  its  first  sitting  the  following 
day  at  Rey's,  in  the  Rue  du  Mont  Blanc.     Though 
the  military  committee  maintained  outward  unity, 
it  was  known  that  the  two  conventionals,  Fion  and 
Rossignol,  made  no  secret  of  regretting  the  absence 
of  their  old  colleagues  of  the  INIountain  from  the 
Secret  Directory.     From  this  time  the  meetings  of 
the  Secret  Directory  were  transferred  to  a  house 
in   the   Faubourg    Montmartre.      Again,    Charles 
Germain  was  the  intermediary  between  the  latter 
and  the  military  committee. 


154  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

Long  and  earnest  discussions  took  place  at  this 
committee  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  insurrection. 
The  views  of  tried  revolutionaries  from  the  "  legion 
of  police"  were  heard.  One  proposition  was  to 
enlist  the  Royalists  in  the  task  of  overthrowing  the 
executive  Directory,  but  this  was  at  once  rejected. 
Another  was  by  two  officers  of  the  legion  to  poignard 
that  very  night  the  members  of  the  (governmental) 
Directory,  and  thus  inaugurate  the  rising.  But  the 
want  of  money  at  this  moment  hampered  the  actions 
of  the  conspirators  in  various  directions,  while  at 
the  same  time  the  question  of  the  old  deputies  of 
the  Mountain  caused  much  embarrassment.  As  we 
have  seen,  Fion  and  Rossignol  were  very  dissatisfied 
at  the  Mountainist  committee  being  left  out  in 
the  cold.  Much  discussion  took  place  in  the 
Secret  Directory  upon  this  question,  Germain 
counselling  concessions.  An  amalgamation  of  the 
two  committees  was  out  of  the  question. 

On  the  15th  of  Floreal,  Germain  brought  to  the 
Secret  Directory  a  delegate  from  the  Mountainist 
Committee,  Ricord.  The  whole  situation  was 
explained  to  him,  the  "  Act  of  Insurrection,"  already 
given,  was  handed  to  the  JMountainist  deputy  to 
read,  and  a  discussion  was  entered  into  concerning 
the  modifications  to  be  made,  especially  in  the 
article  respecting  the  provisional  authority.  It  was 
agreed  that  the  old  Mountainists  of  the  Convention 
should  form  part  of  the  supreme  power,  but  only 


THE   PROJECTED    INSURRECTION    155 

on  condition  of  their  giving  irrefragable  guarantees 
of  the  purity  of  their  democratic  aims. 

The  conditions  as  agreed  to  finally  between  Ricord 
and  the  Secret  Directory  were  : — 1.  The  reinstate- 
ment of  the  sixty  proscribed  Mountainist  members 
of  the  National  Convention  in  the  governing  body, 
which  was  to  consist,  in  addition,  as  provided  for  in 
the  Act  of  Insurrection,  of  one  democrat  for  every 
department,  to  be  elected  by  the  people,  on  the 
nomination  of  the  Secret  Directory.  2.  The  dis- 
positions of  article  18  of  the  Act  of  Insurrection  to 
be  carried  out  without  reserve  and  immediately. 
3.  The  decrees  issued  by  the  people  of  Paris  on 
the  day  of  insurrection  to  be  submitted  to.  4.  The 
suspension  of  all  laws  and  ordinances  made  since 
the  9th  of  Thermidor,  year  II.  5.  The  expulsion 
of  all  the  returned  emigrants.  Ricord,  who  accepted 
these  conditions,  then  left  to  submit  them  to  his 
colleagues  of  the  JNIountainist  committee.  The 
next  day  he  returned  to  announce  their  rejection 
of  the  terms  offered.  What  they  required  was  in 
effect  the  reinstallation,  on  the  success  of  the 
insurrection,  of  the  sixty  proscribed  deputies  of 
the  Mountain,  without  any  guarantees  or  conditions 
whatever.  The  addition  of  a  democrat  for  every 
department  was  rejected  by  the  proscribed  deputies 
as  a  violation  of  the  national  sovereignty,  which 
they  claimed,  under  the  existing  circumstances, 
resided   in   their  own  body  alone.     The  rejoinder 


156  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

of  the  Secret  Directory  to  this  response  was 
interesting :— "  In  agreeing  to  the  provisional  re- 
establishment  of  a  part  of  the  Convention,  we  only 
seek  to  serve  the  people.  The  only  recompense  to 
which  we  aspire  is  the  complete  triumph  of 
Equality.  We  shall  fight  and  expose  our  lives 
to  give  back  to  the  people  the  fulness  of  its  rights, 
but  we  cannot  conceive  that  anyone  has  the  right 
to  claim  to  be  generous  towards  the  master  of 
everything.  If  you  really  desire  to  work  with  us 
in  the  great  enterprise  we  have  in  view,  take  care 
lest  you  put  forward  propositions  and  make  offers 
which  throw  a  bad  light  upon  your  intentions." 
This  referred  to  some  phrases  in  the  reply  of  the 
Mountainist  committee,  intimating  its  willingness 
to  satisfy  the  social  demands  of  the  Babouvists,  but 
rather  as  an  act  of  grace  than  as  the  recognition  of 
a  right. 

"Many  of  your  colleagues  have  betrayed  the 
confidence  of  the  people,  and  we  should  be  infinitely 
more  reprehensible  than  they  if  we  consented  to 
again  deliver  the  people  over  to  their  passions  and 
their  weaknesses.  In  order  to  re-establish  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people,  we  ought  not  to  employ 
the  instruments  which  have  caused  its  loss.  It  is 
to  those  in  whom  the  nation  expects  the  destruction 
of  tyranny  that  it  necessarily  delegates  the  right  to 
take  the  provisional  and  indispensable  measures  to 
this   end.     We    will    not    destroy   an    oppressive 


tfiiiiilM 


THE   PROJECTED   INSURRECTION     157 

government  in  order  to  substitute  for  it  another 
equally  so.  It  is  well  to  pardon  error,  but  it  would 
be  folly  to  confide  once  more  the  future  of  the 
country  to  those  whose  errors  have  lost  it.  Better 
to  perish  by  the  hands  of  the  patriots  who,  indig- 
nant at  our  inaction,  may  accuse  us  of  cowardice  and 
treason,  or  by  those  of  the  government,  who  may 
conceivably  obtain  knowledge  of  our  schemes,  than 
to  put  the  people  again  at  the  mercy  of  those  who 
immolated  its  best  friends  on  the  9th  of  Thermidor, 
and  who  since  then  have  basely  allowed  republicans 
to  be  proscribed,  and  the  democratic  edifice  to  be 
demohshed." 

Ricord  again  retired  to  communicate  this  defini- 
tive resolution  to  his  friends.  It  was  on  the  18th 
Floreal  (7th  May)  that  Darthe  reported  to  the 
Secret  Directory  concerning  a  meeting  of  the 
Mountainist  committee  at  which  he  had  been 
present,  that,  after  a  violent  debate,  the  addition  of 
one  democrat  for  every  department,  as  weU  as  the 
clauses  respecting  social  legislation,  had  been  agreed 
to,  after  strong  speeches  in  their  favour  from  the 
old  committeemen  of  the  Convention,  Amar,  and 
especially  Robert  Lindet,  both  of  whom  strongly 
championed  the  position  taken  up  by  the  Secret 
Directory.  The  news  of  the  entente  between  the  two 
organising  bodies  was  immediately  communicated 
to  the  agents  of  Babeuf  and  his  colleagues,  and  re- 
newed activity  was  shown  in  hastening  on  the  crisis. 


158  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

There  were  now  three  bodies  concerned  in 
organising  the  insurrection — the  INIountainist  Com- 
mittee, the  Secret  Directory,  and  the  Military- 
Committee  appointed  by  the  latter.  The  arrange- 
ments proposed  by  the  Military  Committee, 
and  accepted  by  the  others,  were,  that  the  insur- 
rection should  take  place  in  the  daytime,  that 
the  generals  under  the  orders  of  the  Secret 
Directory  should  lead  the  people  against  the 
enemy,  that  the  insurgents  should  be  divided 
according  to  their  arrondissement  and  subdivided 
by  section ;  that  each  arrondissement  should  have 
its  chief,  and  each  section  its  sub-chief;  and  finally, 
that  all  subordination  to  the  existing  authorities 
should  be  broken  off,  and  every  act  recognising 
their  legitimacy  punished  with  instant  death.  For 
the  final  ratification  of  these  conditions  and 
settling  of  details,  a  general  meeting  of  the  three 
committees  was  called  together  on  the  evening  of 
the  19th  of  Floreal  (8th  of  May),  at  the  house  of 
Drouet,  in  the  Place  des  Piques. 

Meanwhile,  wholly  unsuspected  by  his  colleagues, 
a  traitor  had  been  working  alongside  of  them,  George 
Grisel,  of  the  Grenelle  camp,  who,  as  member  of  the 
military  committee,  had  taken  part  in  the  innermost 
counsels  of  the  conspiracy.  Grisel,  it  would  appear, 
had  for  some  days  been  in  communication  with  the 
(governmental)  Directory  in  the  person  of  Carnot. 
A  written  denunciation  of  the  proceedings  of  the 


THE   PROJECTED   INSURRECTION    159 

Secret  Directory  by  Grisel,  the  15th  Floreal  (4th 
May),  exists,  in  which  precise  details  are  given  of 
the  latest  meetings,  notably  that  of  the  11th  of 
Floreal,  at  which  he  himself  had  been  presented  by 
Darthe  to  Babeuf  and  the  others.  The  traitor,  in 
professing  to  give  an  account  of  the  "  Act  of 
Insurrection,"  entirely  perverts  its  sense,  depicting 
Babeuf  as  a  bloodthirsty  tiger,  enjoining  the  whole- 
sale massacre  of  the  rich.  He  emphasises  the  part 
played  by  Drouet  in  the  conspiracy,  and  discloses 
the  plan  of  attack  against  the  Directory,  the 
Councils,  and  the  Etat  major. 

In  consequence  of  these  disclosures,  Carnot,  on 
the  17th  of  Floreal,  submitted  to  the  Directory 
a  list  of  245  persons  against  whom  he  wished 
to  issue  mandates  of  arrest,  as  the  heads  of 
the  dangerous  conspiracy.  Amongst  the  names 
given  were,  of  course,  all  those  with  whom  the 
reader  is  by  this  time  familiar.  The  proposition 
was  agreed  to  by  the  Directory,  and  on  the 
19th  Floreal  the  mandates  of  arrest  were  issued. 
Of  those  against  whom  the  mandates  were 
launched,  thirty-five  of  them  were  singled  out, 
amongst  whom  was  Buonarroti,  to  be  brought 
before  the  Minister  of  Police,  in  order  to  be 
interrogated  concerning  the  facts  of  the  conspiracy. 
Grisel,  it  should  be  said,  made  himself  notable  for 
the  vehemence  of  his  democratic  sentiments,  and 
for  the  boldness  of  the  measures  he  proposed.     He 


160  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

was  never  tired  of  affirming  the  devotion  of  the 
soldiers  at  Crenelle  to  the  democratic  principles 
animating  the  movement.  The  government  at 
once  took  steps  to  execute  the  warrants.  By  a 
mistake,  the  residence  of  Ricord  w^as  descended 
upon  on  the  18th  Floreal,  but  no  one  was  found 
there.  But  Grisel's  information  as  regards  the 
following  day  was  unfortunately  only  too  correct. 
As  a  member  of  the  military  committee,  he  was 
able  to  give  the  government  precise  information  as 
to  the  place  and  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  19th 
(Floreal),  though,  as  events  showed,  ovdng  to 
clumsily  given  instructions,  the  project  of  the 
government  again  miscarried. 

The  meeting  at  the  house  of  Drouet  took  place, 
and  lasted  from  eight  in  the  evening  until  a 
quarter  to  eleven.  Babeuf,  Buonarroti,  Darthe, 
Didier,  Fion,  Massart,  Rossignol,  Robert  Lindet, 
Drouet,  Ricord,  Langelot,  and  Jauveux  were 
present,  and,  in  addition,  the  infamous  Grisel. 
A  member  of  the  Secret  Directory  opened  the 
proceedings  with  an  eloquent  adjuration  to  those 
present  in  the  traditional  style  of  eighteenth- 
century  revolutionary  oratory.  The  ex-member 
of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  Robert  Lindet, 
also  spoke,  on  behalf  of  the  INIountainists,  on  the 
justice  of  the  proposed  insurrection,  justifying 
the  reinstatement  of  the  remains  of  the  old 
INIountain,    as    the    Convention    insisted    on    the 


THE   PROJECTED    INSURRECTION   161 

necessity  of  impressing  the  stamp  of  the  most 
strict  equahty  upon  the  Revolution,  and  of  giving 
it  a  thoroughly  popular  character.  Grisel  then 
rose.  "  As  for  me,"  he  said,  "  I  speak  for  my  brave 
comrades  of  the  camp  of  Crenelle  ;  and  to  show  you 
how  I  take  to  heart  the  triumph  of  Equality,  I  will 
tell  you  that  I  have  succeeded  in  extracting  from 
my  aristocrat  uncle  the  sum  of  10,000  li^Tcs 
(francs),  which  I  intend  to  devote  to  procuring 
refreshments  for  the  insurgent  soldiers."  The  Act 
of  Insurrection,  as  amended,  was  formally  approved 
by  the  ^lountainists,  who  by  their  delegates  pro- 
mised on  the  day  of  insurrection  to  repair  to  the 
place  that  might  be  indicated  by  the  Secret 
Directory,  and  sincerely  to  co-operate  in  the 
common  work.  Massart,  in  the  name  of  the 
IMilitary  Committee,  explained  the  basis  of  the 
plan  of  attack  proposed.  The  twelve  arrondisse- 
ments  of  Paris,  united  in  three  di\asions,  should  be 
marched  by  as  many  generals  upon  the  legislative 
bodies,  the  executive  Directory,  and  the  Etat  major 
of  the  Army  of  the  Interior.  The  advanced  guard 
was  to  be  formed  of  the  most  ardent  democrats. 
He  added  that  the  committee  required  further 
information  of  the  numbers  of  the  insurgents  and 
of  the  capacity  of  some  of  them ;  also  as  to  the 
places  where  arms  and  ammunition  were  stored, 
which    it  would  be  necessary  to  seize  at  the  first 

start-ofF.     The   meeting   decided  that   the  Secret 

U 


162  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

Directory  should  hasten  the  denoument  of  the 
conspiracy ;  that  it  should  give  its  agents  instruc- 
tions conformably  to  the  plan  of  the  Military 
Committee ;  that  it  should  meet  again  two  days 
later  and  hear  a  final  report  on  the  state  of  affairs 
and  fix  a  day  for  the  movement. 

The  meeting  had  not  long  been  dissolved  before 
the  Minister  of  Police,  with  a  detachment  of  infantry 
and  cavalry  at  his  heels,  in  defiance  of  the  law  which 
forbade  domiciliary  visits  during  the  night,  broke 
into  the  house,  but  found  only  Drouet  and  Darthe 
there,  whom  he  did  not  consider  it  prudent  to  arrest 
by  themselves.  He  accordingly  withdrew  with  his 
escort.  The  event,  notwithstanding,  as  might  be 
imagined,  at  once  aroused  suspicion  of  treachery, 
which  for  the  moment  fell  unfairly  enough,  as 
Buonarroti  informs  us,  on  Charles  Germain,  owing 
to  the  fact  of  his  absence  from  the  meeting  on  the 
occasion  in  question, — an  absence  caused  by  a 
prosecution  having  already  been  begun  against 
him.  But  the  astute  Grisel  soon  succeeded  in 
explaining  away  the  occurrence,  and  fatally 
allaying  all  suspicion.  He  used  the  blundering 
proceeding  of  the  government  in  making  their 
raid  after  the  meeting  was  over,  and  the  fact  that 
they  had  not  taken  action  at  the  meeting  of  the 
previous  week,  when  they  were  all  assembled  at  the 
house  where  Babeuf  was  lodging,  and  where  all  the 
documents  relating  to  the  movement  were  kept,  as 


THE   PROJECTED   INSURRECTION    163 

an  argument  to  prove  that  the  raid  was  not  due  to 
any  internal  treachery,  but  a  piece  of  official  bluff  on 
the  part  of  the  Minister  of  Police  to  single  out  old 
Mountainists  known  to  be  disaffected  to  the  existing 
government  as  the  object  of  his  domiciliary  visit. 

The  insurrection,  as  represented  by  the  Secret 
Directory,  with  the  allied  committees,  had  at  this 
moment  at  its  disposal,  on  a  careful  estimate  made, 
as  Babeuf  and  his  friends  show,  about  17,000  men, 
upon  whom  absolute  reliance  could  be  placed. 
These  were  composed  of  the  most  military  members 
of  the  old  revolutionary  sections,  disbanded  members 
of  the  Army  of  the  Interior,  revolutionaries  of  the 
departments  come  to  Paris  to  join  in  the  movement, 
almost  the  whole  of  the  legion  of  police,  the  grena- 
diers of  the  legislative  body,  and  the  corps  consigned 
at  the  Invalides  ;  this  formed  the  nucleus  of  the 
revolutionary  army.  But,  in  addition,  the  leaders 
of  the  movement,  of  course,  reckoned  upon  the 
popular  masses  of  St  Marceau  and  St  Antoine,  and, 
in  fact,  large  numbers  of  the  lower-middle  and 
working  class  throughout  Paris,  to  join  in  the 
movement  when  once  set  on  foot.  The  desperate 
economic  situation  of  such,  they  assumed,  must 
inevitably  drive  large  numbers  into  a  revolt,  the 
first  aim  of  which  was  an  economic  revolution  that 
would  make  an  end,  not  merely  of  the  existing  state 
of  things,  but  of  poverty  itself,  as  the  inevitable 
social  condition  of  the  majority  of  mankind. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    CATASTROPHE 

During  the  course  of  the  events  described  in  the 
last  chapter,  that  is,  between  the  1st  and  the  10th 
of  May  1796,  it  has  been  proved  by  recent  re- 
searches that  the  government,  namely,  the  executive 
Directory,  together  with  the  Minister  of  Police, 
was  kept  fully  informed  of  everything  important 
that  was  taking  place.  We  have  already  spoken 
of  Grisel,  the  government  spy,  who  was  in  the 
innermost  councils  of  the  Babouvist  Committee,  or 
Secret  Directory,  as  it  was  called,  and  himself  a 
member  of  the  Military  Committee,  upon  which  the 
task  of  drawing  up  and  carrying  out  the  plan  of  the 
insurrection  devolved.  But  it  would  appear  that, 
although  perhaps  the  principal,  he  was  by  no  means 
the  only  agent  to  keep  the  authorities  au  courant 
with  the  progress  of  the  insurrectionary  movement. 
In  addition  to  the  ordinary  police  spies,  of  which 
there  were  the  usual  contingent  of  eavesdroppers,  in 
caf^s  or  elsewhere,  where  political  questions  were 
likely   to   be   canvassed,  there   were   undoubtedly 

164 


THE   CATASTROPHE  165 

other  more  important  sources  of  information  as  to 
the  places  of  assembly  and  the  actions  of  the  chiefs 
of  the  conspiracy. 

Among  the  principal  informers  was  the  keeper 
of  the  Cafe  des  Bains  Chinois,  which  was  a 
rendezvous  of  the  Babouvists  and  those  favour- 
able to  the  movement.  Of  especial  interest, 
as  regards  the  relations  of  the  government  and 
the  insurrectionary  movement  of  Babeuf  and  his 
colleagues,  is  the  question  of  the  part  played  by 
Barras,  who  was  the  most  influential  of  the  five 
Directors,  and  the  most  prominent  man  at  the  time. 
Buonarroti  states,  in  general  terms,  that  Barras  had 
coquetted  with  the  Babouvists,  but  does  not  give 
particulars.  In  fact,  for  long  the  precise  relations 
between  Barras  and  the  movement  remained  in 
historical  obscurity.  In  a  recent  work,  however 
{Histoire  et  Droit,  1907,  vol.  i.  pp.  267-293), 
M.  Paul  Robriquet  has  collected  evidence  of 
the  part  played  by  Barras  in  the  affair,  including 
some  unpublished  documents  in  the  Archives 
nationales.  The  next  strongest  man  to  Barras  on 
the  Directory  was  Carnot,  and  between  these  two 
men  was  implacable  discord,  which  culminated  later 
in  the  affair  of  the  "  18th  Fructidor."  Hippolyte 
Carnot,  the  son  of  the  famous  "  organiser  of  victory," 
in  his  memoirs  of  his  father,  alludes  to  the  com- 
plicity of  Barras  in  the  matter  of  the  "  Equals," 
thinking  that   it   was   only   the   timely   arrest   of 


166  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

Babeuf  and  his  friends  that  averted  catastrophe 
(i.e.  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  government 
and  the  dominant  classes).  In  confirmation  of 
this,  M.  Robriquet  cites  a  letter  he  has  discovered, 
signed  by  one  Armand,  who  was  evidently  a  police 
agent,  to  the  Minister  of  Police,  containing  the 
words,  "  I  am  persuaded  that  Barras  is  betraying 
us,  for  he  has  interviews  with  Rossignol " ;  and 
later,  in  another  letter,  "the  director  Barras  is 
more  than  ever  suspect  to  me.  He  has  had 
Rossignol  informed  that  he  begs  the  Committee 
of  Insurrection  to  send  him  '  a  confidential  man,' 
because,  says  he,  'the  moment  of  the  insurrec- 
tion,' he  wishes  to  pass  over  to  the  Faubourg 
St  Antoine  with  a  part  of  the  JEtat  major,''' 
explaining,  however,  at  the  same  time,  that  in 
case  the  committee  does  not  send  him  the  man 
he  asks  for,  he  would,  none  the  less,  "throw 
himself  into  the  arms  of  the  people." 

The  same  author  quotes,  further,  a  letter  of 
Charles  Germain  to  Babeuf,  relative  to  an  inter- 
view he  had  had  with  Barras  on  the  30th 
Germinal,  anno  IV.  (19th  April  1796).  "You 
ought  to  know  from  Darthe  or  others,"  writes 
Germain,  "  that  I  was  sent  for  by  Barras  this 
morning,  the  30th  of  Germinal.  I  have  had  an 
audience  with  the  director."  Germain  goes  on 
to  give  a  statement  of  his  conversation  with 
Barras,  as  much  as  possible  in  the  language  used. 


THE   CATASTROPHE  167 

After  enlarging  on  the  dangers  the  country  ran 
from  the  RoyaUsts,  Barras  asked  his  visitor 
what  the  patriots  thought.  "  We  know,"  he  said, 
"they  are  preparing  a  movement.  Good  men, 
their  zeal  has  bhnded  them ;  they  are  going  to  get 
themselves  prairialised,  whereas,  in  order  to  save 
the  country,  we  have  got  to  vendemiarise.''  This, 
of  course,  referred  to  the  abortive  insurrection  of 
the  populace  on  the  1st  of  Prairial  of  the  previous 
year,  when  the  Convention  was  invaded,  but  which, 
after  a  few  hours'  triumph,  was  suppressed,  and 
which  led  to  the  expulsion  and  indictment  of  the 
Mountainist  section  of  the  Convention  for  having 
supported  the  demands  of  the  insurgents.  Barras 
opposes  this  to  his  own  exploits,  with  the  aid 
of  Napoleon  and  his  cannon,  on  the  13th  of 
Vendemiaire,  when  the  Royalist  insurrection  w^as 
suppressed. 

Here  follows  a  remarkable  utterance  of  Barras, 
as  reported  by  Germain :  "  Like  you,"  Barras  is 
alleged  to  say,  "  I  know  myself  that  the  present 
state  of  things  is  not  the  end  which  was  contemplated 
by  the  men  who  overthrew  the  Bastille,  the  Throne, 
and  Robespierre.  Like  you,  I  recognise  myself 
that  a  change  must  be  made,  and  that  this  change 
is  not  so  far  away  as  some  might  think  ;  and  when 
one  has  the  most  need  of  patriots  to  effect  this 
change,  they  are  meditating  our  ruin,  our  death ! 
They  are  making  themselves,  without  intending  it. 


168  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

perhaps,  the  instruments  of  the  emigrants,  the 
fanatics,  the  RoyaKsts,  who  have  ever  seen  the 
restored  monarchy  near  at  hand."  Barras  con- 
tinued, alluding  to  the  pretended  complicity  of  the 
Babouvists  with  the  Royalists  in  their  intrigues 
with  Pitt  and  Cobourg,and  wound  up  by  challenging 
Germain  to  give  his  own  opinion.  The  latter 
replied,  denying  any  knowledge  of  the  alleged 
intrigues  with  Cobourg,  Pitt,  Isnard,  Robert,  etc., 
but  assuring  the  Director  that  the  people  was 
tired  of  its  oppressors,  and  would  be  no  more 
satisfied  with  a  Vendemiaire  than  with  a  Prairial, 
the  former  having  proved  of  no  more  benefit  to 
them  than  the  latter.  Barras,  here  interrupting 
him,  expressed  regret  at  not  having  worked  the 
oracle  ("travaille  la  marchandise "),  if  for  only 
three  days,  in  a  manner  to  satisfy  the  patriots. 

He  then  launched  forth  into  an  invective  against 
the  Royalists,  expressing  the  wish  that  the  move- 
ment might  become  general  and  be  directed  against 
the  Royalists.  "  I  have  confidence,"  he  exclaimed, 
"in  the  means  at  my  disposal."  He  then  went 
on  to  relate  that  he  had  lately  made  an  excur- 
sion through  the  popular  faubourgs,  and  that  the 
people  all  appeared  calm  and  peaceable.  "If  I 
had  seen  anything  stirring,"  he  said,  "the  thing 
would  have  been  done.  I  should  have  marched 
with  the  people,  for  it  is  by  and  through  the  people 
that,  as  1  hold,  the  national  will  manifests  itself. 


THE   CATASTROPHE  169 

The  people,"  he  added,  "  is  not  represented  by  a 
handful  of  clumsy  agitators."  He  thereupon  re- 
newed his  suggestions  that  the  Babouvists  should 
rally  round  the  Directory  rather  than  maintain  a 
secret  directory  of  their  own,  in  opposition  to  the 
governmental  one.  "You  cry  out,"  said  Barras, 
"  against  us,  Crucify  them  !  and  yet  to  whom  do 
you  propose  to  attach  yourselves  ?  To  the  Court 
of  Verona  !  Yes,  my  friends,  it  is  thither  that  they 
want  to  lead  you,  whereas  that  is  the  very  thing 
we  have  to  kill  and  destroy.  You  ought  now,  my 
comrade,"  said  he,  "  to  know  my  mind,  my  senti- 
ment, and  my  principles.  More  than  one  patriot 
knows  me  already ;  my  existence  is  bound  up  in 
that  of  the  Repubhc  and  the  people.  Believe  me, 
that,  like  all  true  patriots,  I  shall  neglect  nothing 
for  their  success ;  and  it  is  only  in  order  to  serve 
them  that  I  resist  my  ovm  pressing  inclination  to 
abdicate  my  position,  and  to  retire  peacefully  into 
an  obscurity  which  is  very  dear  to  me."  Barras, 
in  bidding  good-bye  to  Germain,  invited  him  to 
come  and  see  him  from  time  to  time,  giving  him 
a  carte  de  circulation  to  facilitate  his  movements 
in  official  regions. 

Barras  admits  in  his  memoirs  that  he  had  received 
Germain  sometimes,  but  denies  absolutely  that  he 
had  any  relations  whatever  with  Babeuf  himself, 
whom,  he  states,  he  regarded  as  a  great  fool.  He 
naturally  was  afterwards  anxious  to  excuse  himself 


170  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

from  the  suspicion  of  having  actively  favoured  the 
movement  of  the  Equals,  but  the  testimony  of 
others,  among  whom  was  Buonarroti,  was  to  the 
effect  that  Barras  had  actually  offered  his  services 
to  "the  conspiracy,"  w^iich  certainly  seems  to  be 
confirmed  by  the  letter  above  quoted  from,  and 
which  indeed,  even  apart  from  this,  might  be 
inferred  from  the  admission  of  Barras  himself,  that 
he  had  "  sometimes  received  "  the  ardent  Germain. 
The  fellow  -  director  of  Barras,  Larivelliere- 
Lepeaux,  certainly  held  strongly  to  the  opinion  of 
his  having  negotiated  with  the  conspirators.  "  The 
conduct  of  Barras,"  he  says,  "  his  relations,  his  sinis- 
ter look,  his  opinions,  sufficed  to  convince  us."  He 
also  states  that  this  was  the  opinion  of  the  other 
directors,  and  that  so  strongly  were  they  impressed 
with  the  unreliability  of  their  colleague,  that  the 
measures  to  be  taken  against  the  conspiracy  were 
only  discussed  when  Barras  happened  to  be  absent 
from  the  directorial  sittings. 

That  Barras,  from  what  we  know  of  the  man, 
was  not  actuated  by  disinterested  enthusiasm  or 
regard  for  principle  in  his  attitude  may  be  taken 
for  granted,  though  what  precisely  his  "game" 
was  is  not  quite  clear,  any  more  than  as  to 
whether  Napoleon  was  privy  to  it  or  not.  It 
would  seem,  however,  pretty  evident  that,  not- 
withstanding the  aggressive  luxury  of  his  private 
life,   a   luxury  that   had   alienated   many,  as  also 


THE   CATASTROPHE  171 

the  role  he  had  played  as  a  Thermidorean,  he 
thought  he  might  attain  an  influence  with  the 
revolutionary  party  by  avowedly  favouring  their 
aims  on  the  one  side,  while  playing  up  to  the 
representatives  of  property  and  the  status  quo  on 
the  other  by  posing  as  a  man  of  moderating 
counsels.  Whether  Bonaparte  knew  of  the  matter, 
and  had  visions  of  a  forestalled  18th  of  Brumaire, 
and  an  entry  upon  the  scene  as  the  saviour  of 
society,  as  already  said,  cannot  be  determined  for 
certain. 

However  this  may  be,  and  whatever  the  motives 
underlying  the  attitude  of  Barras,  there  is  no 
doubt  whatever  of  his  haste  to  adopt  an  "  I  know 
not  the  man"  attitude  so  soon  as  he  saw  the 
way  things  were  turning.  The  moment  he  was 
apprised  of  the  imminent  arrest  of  the  Babouvist 
leaders,  and  perceived  that  the  movement  was  lost, 
he  made  a  violent  scene  with  his  colleagues,  ex- 
tracting from  them  a  declaration  that  they  had  given 
no  credence  to  the  reports  of  his  treachery  circu- 
lated by  malevolents.  At  the  same  time  he  talked 
of  appearing  before  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred, 
in  order  to  obtain  a  public  satisfaction.  Not  caring 
to  show  a  divided  counsel  at  a  moment  of  peril,  the 
other  Directors  calmed  Barras,  assuring  him  that 
they  had  no  thought  of  bringing  any  accusation 
against  him. 

On  the  10th  of  xMay  (21st  Floreal,  anno  IV.), 


172  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

Carnot,  who  was  president  of  the  executive 
Directory,  sent  a  message  to  the  Council  of  Five 
Hundred  to  inform  them  that  a  horrible  plot  was 
to  be  hatched  on  the  morrow,  and  that  its  object 
was  "to  overthrow  the  French  Constitution,  to 
slaughter  the  legislative  body,  all  the  members  of 
the  government,  the  Etat  major  of  the  Army  of 
the  Interior,  and  to  deliver  this  great  city  to  general 
pillage  and  frightful  massacres."  It  concluded 
with  the  information  that  the  executive  Directory 
were  informed  of  the  place  of  meeting  of  the  chiefs 
of  this  conspiracy,  and  had  given  orders  for  their 
immediate  arrest.  The  same  day,  indeed,  at  the 
very  moment  when  the  Secret  Directory  was 
planning  the  final  arrangements  for  the  insurrec- 
tion, a  body  of  soldiers  invaded  the  room  where 
the  sitting  was  being  held  and  seized  the  principal 
leaders,  amongst  them  being  the  ex-con  ventionals  be- 
longing to  the  Mountainist  section  of  the  now  united 
revolutionary  party — Vadier,  Ricord,  Laignelot,  and 
Drouet.  Babeuf  himself,  however,  was  not  there, 
neither  was  he  to  be  found  at  his  old  address, 
No.  29  Faubourg  St  Honore,  but  at  the  house  of 
the  tailor  Tissot,  No.  21  Rue  de  la  Grande 
Truanderie,  where  the  meeting  of  the  11th  of 
Floreal  was  held,  and  where,  as  before  related,  he 
had  taken  refuge  as  a  measure  of  precaution, 
which  events  proved  was  ineffectual. 

At  the  moment  that  the  police  burst  into  his 


THE   CATASTROPHE  173 

apartment  he  was  engaged  in  drawing  up,  in  com- 
pany with  Buonarroti  and  another,  the  manifestoes 
intended  to  determine  the  hnes  of  the  insurrection. 
All  the  important  papers  relating  to  the  movement 
were  seized.  In  spite  of  the  generosity  of  the 
one  man  of  means  in  the  party,  Le  Pelletier,^  there 
was  only  found  in  ready  cash  2000  livres  in 
assignats.  What  this  amounted  to  in  the  depreci- 
ated currency  of  the  time  is  easy  to  reckon.  The 
poverty,  indeed,  of  the  movement  threatened  to 
cause  its  failure,  even  had  it  not  been  prema- 
turely betrayed.  Without  the  co-operation  of 
the  military,  or  at  least  a  considerable  section  of 
them,  it  was  impossible  that  the  insurrection 
could  have  succeeded ;  and  to  ensure  the  support 
of  the  military,  it  was  necessary  that  they  should 
be  paid.  It  was  proposed  to  divide  the  insurgent 
army  into  three  divisions ;  three  generals  were  to 
command  it,  under  the  order  of  the  general-in- 
chief.  Fion,  Germain,  Rossignol,  and  iNIassart 
were  those  designated.  All  was  arranged  up  to 
the  moment  when  the  tocsin  should  ring  out,  and 
when,  at  the  beat  of  the  generale,  the  popular 
wards  of  the  city  would  rise  to  claim  the  heritage 
the   revolution   had  promised   them.      The  arrest 

^  This  Le  Pelletier,  it  should  be  noted,  was  the  younger  brother 
of  the  well-known  Louis  Michel  Le  Pelletier  de  Saint  Fargeau, 
who  was  assassinated  in  a  cafe  on  the  day  after  the  vote  in  the 
Convention  of  the  king's  death,  i.e.  the  21st  January  1793. 


174  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

immediately  produced  a  great  sensation  on  the 
general  public. 

The  press  gave  blood-curdling  accounts  of  the 
projected  movement  and  the  objects  of  the  still- 
born insurrection.  Every  day  brought  reports 
of  fresh  arrests  of  the  insurrectionists,  besides 
those  of  Royalists  and  others.  Babeuf  and  his 
friends  were  removed  at  once  to  imprisonment 
in  the  Temple.  All  w^ere  apparently  at  first 
taken  to  the  prison  of  the  Abbaye.  This  v^^as  on 
the  21st  Floreal  (10th  May).  Brought  up  the 
same  day  before  the  Minister  of  Police,  Charles 
Cochon  Laparent,  a  former  member  of  the  Con- 
vention, Babeuf  claimed  to  be  the  author  of  the 
plan  of  insurrection  found  among  the  papers  seized. 
This  was,  of  course,  not  strictly  true,  but  Babeuf 
was  anxious  not  to  incriminate  his  associates,  whom 
he  steadily  refused  to  name.  Two  days  later  he 
indicted  the  following  letter  to  the  executive 
Directory : — 

"Citizens  and  Directors, — Would  you  regard 
it  as  beneath  you  to  treat  with  me  as  between 
power  and  power?  You  have  already  seen  the 
vast  confidence  of  which  I  am  the  centre !  You 
have  seen  that  my  party  may  well  balance  yours  ! 
You  have  seen  its  vast  ramifications !  I  am  more 
than  convinced  that  the  outlook  has  made  you 
tremble ! 

"  Is  it  to  your  interest,  is  it  to  the  interest  of 


THE   CATASTROPHE  175 

the  country,  to  give  special  notoriety  to  the  con- 
spiracy and  its  inspirers  ?  I  do  not  think  so.  I 
will  give  you  the  reasons  why  my  opinion  ought 
not  to  appear  suspicious.  What  would  happen  if 
this  affair  should  appear  in  the  full  light  of  day  ? 
That  I  should  play  the  most  glorious  of  all  roles ! 
I  should  demonstrate  with  all  the  force  of  character, 
with  all  the  energy  of  which  you  have  known  me 
to  be  possessed,  the  righteousness  of  the  conspiracy, 
of  which  I  never  denied  having  been  the  ringleader. 
Departing  from  that  cowardly  path  strewn  with 
denials,  which  the  common  ruck  of  accused  persons 
use  to  justify  themselves,  I  should  dare  to  develop 
great  principles,  plead  the  eternal  rights  of  the 
people,  with  all  the  advantage  which  close  absorp- 
tion and  the  grandeur  of  the  subject  gives  me. 
I  should  dare,  I  say,  to  demonstrate  that  this  trial 
is  not  one  of  justice,  but  it  is  one  of  strength 
against  weakness,  of  oppressors  against  oppressed 
and  their  magnanimous  defenders,  of  the  strong 
against  the  weak.  You  may  condemn  me  to 
deportation  or  death,  but  your  judgment  will  be  at 
once  seen  to  be  pronounced  by  powerful  vice 
against  feeble  virtue.  INly  scaffold  will  figure 
gloriously  beside  that  of  Barneveldt  or  of  Sidney. 
Would  you  fear  to  see,  after  my  execution,  altars 
raised  to  me  beside  those  where  to-day  Robespieire 
and  Goujon  are  revered  as  illustrious  martyrs  ? 
It  is  not  in  this  way  that  governments  and  rulers 


176  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

are  rendered  secure.  You  have  seen,  citizens  and 
directors,  that  you  hold  nothing  when  I  am  in 
your  hands.  I  am  not  all  the  conspiracy,  it  is 
clear;  nay,  I  am  only  a  single  link  in  the  long 
chain  that  composes  it.  You  have  to  fear  all  the 
other  parties  no  less  than  mine.  You  have,  indeed, 
the  proof  of  all  the  interest  they  take  in  me,  that 
you  strike  at  them  all  in  striking  at  me,  and  you 
will  irritate  them. 

"  You  will  irritate,  I  say,  the  whole  democracy 
of  the  French  Republic.  But  you  know  already 
that  it  is  not  such  a  small  matter  as  you  may  have 
imagined  at  first.  You  must  recognise  that  it  is 
not  only  in  Paris  that  it  exists  in  strength,  you 
must  see  that  there  is  not  one  of  the  departments 
where  it  is  not  powerful.  You  would  judge  of  the 
matter  still  better  if  your  agents  had  seized  the 
vast  correspondence  which  enabled  us  to  form  the 
Hsts  of  which  you  have  only  seen  a  fragment.  It 
is  all  very  well  to  seek  to  stifle  the  sacred  fire 
which  burns  and  will  burn.  What  though  it  seems 
at  certain  instants  extinguished  if  its  flame  threatens 
to  revive  suddenly  with  the  force  of  an  explosion  ? 
Would  you  undertake  to  deliver  yourselves  entirely 
to  that  vast  sans-culotte  sect  which  has  not  yet 
deigned  to  declare  itself  vanquished  ?  Even  in 
any  possibility  of  this  where  would  you  find  your- 
selves afterwards  ?  You  are  not  quite  in  the 
same  position    as    he    who    after    the    death    of 


THE   CATASTROPHE  177 

Cromwell  ruled  some  millions  of  English  re- 
publicans. Charles  II.  was  king,  and  whatever 
you  may  say  you  are  not  that  yet.  You  have 
need  of  a  party  to  support  you,  and  if  you  removed 
that  of  the  patriots  you  are  left  alone  in  the  face  of 
royalism.  What  do  you  think  would  be  your 
lookout  if  you  were  standing  before  it  single- 
handed  ?  You  will  say  that  the  patriots  are  as 
dangerous  as  the  royalists,  and  perhaps  more  so. 
You  deceive  yourselves.  Consider  well  the  char- 
acter of  the  enterprise  of  the  patriots.  You  will 
not  find  that  they  desire  your  death,  and  it  is  a 
calumny  to  have  allowed  the  statement  to  be 
published.  For  myself,  I  can  tell  you  that  they 
do  not  desire  it.  They  wish  to  walk  in  other  paths 
than  those  of  Robespierre.  They  desire  no  blood. 
They  would  force  you  to  confess  of  yourselves  that 
you  have  made  an  oppressive  use  of  power,  that  you 
have  got  rid  of  all  popular  forms  and  safeguards, 
and  they  desire  you  to  replace  them.  They  would 
not  have  gone  as  far  as  they  have,  if,  as  you 
promised  after  Vendemiaire,  you  had  made  the 
attempt  to  govern  popularly. 

"  I  myself  in  my  earlier  numbers  [of  his  paper] 
have  sought  to  open  the  door  to  you.  I  have  said 
how  I  thought  that  you  might  cover  yourselves 
with  the  blessing  of  the  people.  I  explained  how 
it  seemed  possible  to  me  that  you  might  cause  to 

disappear   all  that  the  constitutional  character  of 

12 


178  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

your  government  exhibits  in  contrast  to  true 
republican  principles. 

"  Well,  there  is  still  time.  The  turn  the  latest 
events  have  taken  may  become  profitable,  and  the 
salvation  alike  of  yourselves  and  the  public 
interests.  Do  you  disdain  my  advice  and  my 
conclusions,  which  are  that  your  own  interest  and 
that  of  the  country  consists  in  not  giving  notoriety 
to  the  present  affair  ?  I  seem  to  perceive  that  it 
is  already  your  intention  to  treat  the  matter 
politically.  It  seems  to  me  that  you  would  be 
wise  in  doing  so.  Don't  think  that  my  present 
action  is  interested.  The  open  and  unusual 
manner  in  which  I  do  not  cease  to  declare  myself 
guilty,  in  the  sense  in  which  you  accuse  me,  must 
show  you  that  I  do  not  act  from  weakness.  Death 
or  exile  would  be  to  me  the  pathway  to  immor- 
tality, and  I  shall  tread  it  with  a  heroic  and 
religious  zeal,  but  my  proscription,  like  that  of  all 
other  democrats,  will  not  advance  you  one  whit,  or 
ensure  the  salvation  of  the  republic. 

"  I  have  seen,  on  reflection,  that  in  the  last  resort 
you  have  not  always  been  the  enemies  of  this 
republic.  You  were  once  evidently  republicans  in 
good  faith.  Why  will  you  not  be  so  again  ?  Why 
will  you  not  believe  that  you  who  are  men  have 
been  temporarily  led  astray  like  others  by  the 
inevitable  effect  of  exaggerations  into  which  cir- 
cumstances have  thrown  you  ?     The  patriots  and 


THE   CATASTROPHE  179 

the  mass  of  the  people  have  a  lacerated  heart. 
Would  you  tear  it  still  more  ?  What  would  be 
the  final  result?  Do  not  these  patriots  rather 
deserve  that,  instead  of  aggravating  their  wounds, 
you  should  think  at  last  of  curing  them  ?  You 
have,  when  it  pleases  you,  the  initiative  of  well- 
being,  since  in  you  resides  the  whole  force  of  public 
administration.  Citizen  Directors,  govern  popu- 
larly I  Such  is  all  these  patriots  ask  of  you  !  Speak- 
ing thus  for  them,  I  am  sure  that  they  will  not 
interrupt  my  voice.  I  am  sure  of  not  being 
repudiated  by  them.  I  see  but  one  policy  that  it 
is  wise  for  you  to  take.  Declare  that  there  has 
never  been  any  serious  conspiracy.  Five  men,  in 
thus  showing  themselves  great  and  generous,  can 
to-day  save  the  country.  I  allege  still  further 
that  the  patriots  will  cover  you  with  their  bodies, 
and  that  you  will  have  no  more  need  of  entire 
armies  to  defend  you.  The  patriots  do  not  hate 
you  ;  they  only  hate  your  unpopular  acts.  I  will 
then  give  you,  on  my  own  account,  a  guarantee 
as  extended  as  is  my  habitual  frankness.  You 
know  the  measure  of  influence  that  I  have  with 
this  class  of  men — I  refer  to  the  patriots.  Well,  I 
will  employ  it  to  convince  them  that  if  you  are  at 
one  with  the  people,  they  ought  to  act  at  one  with 
you.  It  would  not  surely  be  an  unhappy  thing  if 
the  effect  of  this  simple  letter  were  to  pacify  the 
internal    condition    of    France    in    checking    the 


180  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

notoriety  of  which  this  affair  is  the  subject. 
Would  it  not,  at  the  same  time,  check  all  that 
now  opposes  itself  to  the  calm  of  Europe  ? 

"  G.  Babeuf." 

This  letter,  not  perhaps  very  wise  or  altogether 
dignified  under  the  circumstances,  had,  as  might  be 
expected,  no  effect  on  its  recipients.  Four  of  the 
Directors  at  least  were  uncompromising  in  their 
determination  mercilessly  to  stamp  out  the  move- 
ment, while  the  fifth,  Barras,  whatever  may  have 
been  his  private  ideas  or  inclinations,  found  him- 
self ah'eady  an  object  of  secret  suspicion  to  his 
colleagues,  and  had  to  fall  in  ^vith  their  projects, 
with  all  the  alacrity  he  could  assume,  if  he  was  to 
avoid  placing  himself  in  a  false,  and  even  a  danger- 
ous, position.  The  president  of  the  Directory, 
Carnot,  that  "organising  genius,"  carried  everything 
before  him  at  this  juncture  by  his  energy  and 
determination.  His  struggle  with  the  only  other 
man  of  real  ability  at  the  head  of  affairs,  Barras,  was 
deferred  to  a  later  day.  Barras  won  on  the  18th 
Fructidor,  though  only  himself  to  be  overthrown  by 
Bonaparte  on  the  18th  Brumaire. 

But,  to  return  to  our  prisoners,  they  were  all  at 
first  interned  in  the  Abbaye,  three  days  later  to  be 
brought  up  before  the  Directors  and  Jury  of  the 
department  of  Paris.  But  the  Government  took 
an  early  opportunity  of  transferring  the  more  im- 
portant of  the  prisoners,  amongst  them  Babeuf  and 


THE   CATASTROPHE  181 

Buonarroti,  to  the  prison  of  the  Temple.  One  im- 
portant prisoner,  however,  was  allowed  to  remain 
at  the  Abbaye.  We  refer  to  Jean  Baptiste  Drouet, 
whose  name  has  been  several  times  mentioned  in 
connection  -\Wth  the  proceedings  of  the  Secret 
Directory.  Drouet  had  a  special  significance  as 
being  a  Mountainist  member  of  the  Convention, 
and  one  of  the  few  who  succeeded  in  getting  into 
the  new  Council  of  Five  Hundred.  It  was  he  who 
was  the  postmaster  at  the  small  town  of  Ste. 
Menehould,  and  who  procured  the  arrest  of  Louis 
XVI.  at  the  time  of  his  flight  to  Varennes  in  June 
1791.  He  was  a  man  whose  past  gave  him  influ- 
ence with  all  the  existing  parties,  and  his  adhesion 
to  the  movement  of  Babeuf  obtained  for  him 
additional  importance. 

Now  this  man  Drouet,  in  his  capacity  of  political 
prisoner,  was  rather  a  white  elephant  to  the  execu- 
tive Directory.  In  the  first  place,  his  being  among 
the  accused  prevented  the  great  trial  coming  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  High  Court  of  Justice  of 
Paris,  as  in  the  ordinary  course  it  would  have 
done.  For  by  article  265  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  year  III.  it  was  pro\aded  that  members  of 
the  Legislature  were  not  to  be  tried  before  the 
ordinary  tribunals,  but  that  a  special  high  court 
was  to  be  established  to  deal  "vvith  their  cases. 
Hence  it  was  that  the  government  decided  that 
the    whole    process    should    take    place    before    a 


182  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

special  highl  court,  whose  seat  was  fixed  at  the 
town  of  Vendome,  in  the  department  of  the 
Loir  et  Cher.  But,  for  reasons  of  his  own,  Barras 
was  particularly  unwilling  that  Drouet  should 
be  brought  to  trial  at  all.  Hence,  shortly  be- 
fore the  time  of  the  trial  came  on,  on  the  1st 
Fructidor,  ann.  IV.  (17th  August  1796),  Drouet 
was  allowed,  it  has  now  been  proved,  with  the 
connivance  of  Barras,  to  effect  his  escape  from  the 
Abbaye.  Drouet  succeeded  in  getting  away  from 
France  into  Switzerland.  From  thence  he  went  to 
TenerifFe,  where  he  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
successful  resistance  to  the  attack  of  Nelson  in  the 
following  year.  He  became  a  sub-prefect  under 
the  Empire,  and  died  at  Macon  in  182-1. 

On  the  9th  Prairial,  ann.  IV.  (26th  May  1796), 
the  old  members  of  the  Society  of  the  Pantheon, 
together  with  some  of  the  Mountainists.  attempted 
to  raise  the  populace  to  deliver  the  prisoners.  The 
attempt,  however,  was  a  failure.  During  the  earlier 
period  of  his  detention  in  the  Temple,  Babeuf  s  en- 
thusiasm for  the  cause  seemed  at  times  to  render 
him  indifferent  to  every  other  consideration,  even  to 
the  welfare  of  his  wife  and  family.  As  the  weeks 
went  on,  however,  he  softened,  and  the  following 
letter  to  his  well-to-do  friend  Felix  Le  PeUetier  is 
of  interest,  as  expressing  at  once  his  political  testa- 
ment and  his  regard  for  the  domestic  affections, 
and,  lastly,  as  a  specimen  of  his  literary  style  at  its 


THE   CATASTROPHE  183 

best.  It  is  dated— "The  Tower  of  the  Temple, 
26th  Messidor,  anno  I\'.  (10th  of  August  1796)," 
and  is  as  follows  : — 

"  Greetings,  dear  Felix  !  Don't  alarm  yourself 
on  seeing  these  lines  traced  by  my  hand.  I  know 
that  all  that  bears  the  imprint  of  relations  with 
me  gives  the  right  to  disquietude.  I  am  the  being 
that  all  fly  from;  that  all  regard  as  dangerous, 
and  of  a  deadly  approach.  Howev^er,  my  conscience 
tells  me  that  I  am  pure ;  and  my  true  friends,  that 
is,  certain  just  men,  know  also  that  I  have  nothing 
wherewith  to  reproach  myself.  If  even  they  shun 
me,  it  is  not  from  any  real  aversion  which  I  inspire 
in  them,  but  it  is  the  effect  of  the  factitious  terror 
imposed  upon  them  by  malice,  lest  by  chance  they 
should  be  reputed  criminals,  and  treated  as  such. 
In  this  position  the  consideration  that  I  owe  to 
good  men  prescribes  to  me  the  interdiction  of  all 
intercourse  with  them,  in  order  to  avoid  giving 
them  the  smallest  alarm.  But  urgent  considera- 
tions, such  as  present  themselves  naturally  to  the 
thoughts  of  a  man  on  the  brink  of  the  tomb,  have 
decided  me  to  make  one  more  advance  towards  one 
of  my  fellow-citizens  whom  I  especially  esteem.  I 
do  this  the  more  willingly  inasmuch  as  I  am  sure 
to  run  no  other  risk  than  that,  perhaps,  of  somewhat 
disquieting  him.  It  is  a  sacrifice  that  friendship 
can  make.  I  shall  hghten  it  in  reassuring  you, 
as  quickly  as  possible,  my  good  Felix,  that  there  is 


184  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

nothing  to  fear.  I  was  certain,  in  getting  this 
epistle  conveyed  to  you,  the  last  that  I  shall 
address  to  you,  that  it  would  overcome  without 
peril  all  the  obstacles  that  might  come  between 
you  and  me. 

"  Behold  us,  then,  without  doubt,  more  at  ease 
with  one  another — you  to  read  me,  I  to  conclude 
what  I  have  to  tell  you !  1  have  built  my  text, 
in  speaking  to  you,  on  friendship.  I  have  called 
you  friend !  I  have  believed,  and  I  believe,  that 
1  may  do  so.  It  is  by  this  title  that  I  address 
you  in  confidence — respecting  do  you  know  what  ? 
— my  testament,  and  last  recommendation. 

"  I  make  the  following  assumptions  subordinate 
to  its  execution — that  proscription  will  not  always 
pursue  you  ;  that  the  tyrants,  sated  with  my  blood 
and  that  of  some  of  my  unhappy  companions,  ^vill 
be  contented,  and  their  own  policy  will  not  counsel 
them,  perhaps,  to  do  what  they  at  first  appeared  to 
propose  doing,  namely,  to  make  a  hecatomb  of 
all  republicans.  On  the  other  hand,  it  might 
still  happen,  after  my  martyrdom,  that  fortune 
will  tire  of  striking  our  country,  and  then  that 
her  true  children  may  breathe  in  peace.  If  it  is 
otherwise,  I  lose  all  hope  as  to  what  shall  survive 
me.  Then  all  will  perish  in  the  vast  cataclysm 
that  crime  against  virtue  and  justice  will  engender. 
The  work  of  the  good,  their  memory,  their  families, 
will  fall  into  eternal  night,  and  be  involved  in  one 


THE   CATASTROPHE  185 

universal  destruction.  Then,  again,  all  is  said :  I 
need  take  no  more  care  for  those  who  are  still  dear 
to  me,  whom  my  thought  has  followed  up  to  the 
repose  of  nothingness,  the  last  inevitable  end  of 
all  that  exists. 

"  It  is  on  the  first  supposition  that  I  am  acting, 
my  friend.     I  believe  I  have  remained  worthy  of 
the  esteem  of  men  who  are  as  just  as  you  are.     T 
have    not   seen   you   in   the  ranks   of   those   evil 
IVIachiavellian  politicians  who  multiply  my  suffer- 
ings a   hundredfold,  and    are   looking   forward   to 
my  death.       The  traitors !     In  causing   those   for 
whom  they  appeared  to  have  interested  themselves 
most  to  appear  in  a  cowardly  and  shameful  light, 
they  have  pictured   me — whose   every  public   act 
has  testified  to  the  rectitude,  to  the  purity  of  my 
intentions  ;  to  me,  whose  sighs  and  tenderness  ever 
for  unfortunate  humanity  are  painted  in  unequivocal 
traits  ! — me,  who  have  worked  with  such  courage 
and    devotion    for    the    enfranchisement    of    my 
brothers !— me,    who    in    this    sublime    enterprise 
have  had  at  the  moment  of  misfortune,  following 
on  the  great  success  which  attests  that  1  have  at 
least  brought  some  intelligence  to  the  work  before 
me ! — they  have  pictured  me,  I    say,  either   as   a 
miserable    dreamer    in    oblivion,    or    as    a    secret 
instrument   of  the   perfidy  of  the  enemies  of  the 
people.      They  have   not   blushed   to   agree   with 
the  tyrants   as   to    the    culpability   of    the    most 


186  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

generous   efforts   to    break   down   slavery   and   to 
cause  the  horrible  misery  of  the  country  to  cease. 
They  have   not   blushed,  finally,  to   seek   to   cast 
upon  me  alone  this  capital  offence,  in  ornamenting 
it  with  all  the  accessories  by  which  they  thought 
to   be   able   effectively   to   give   it   the   colour    of 
crime  ;  and,  nevertheless,  I  myself  had  the  delicacy 
to   compromise   no   one   by  name,  only  involving 
in  the  charge  brought  against  me  the  coalition  of 
all  the  democrats  of  the  entire  Republic,  because 
I  thought  it  at  first  useful  to  strike  at  despotism 
with   terror,  and   because    I   thought  it  would  be 
an  insult  to  any  democrat  not  to  present  him  as 
a   participant   in   an   enterprise   so   obligatory   for 
him  as  that  of  the  re-establishment   of  equality ! 
What  have  they  gained,  these  false  brothers,  these 
apostates   from   our   holy  doctrine  ?      What   have 
they  gained  by  this  evil  system  which  they  appear 
to  regard  as  the  non  plus  ultra  of  cleverness?    They 
have  gained  nothing  beyond  dishonour   to   them- 
selves, to  discredit  revolutionaries  with  the  people, 
who   necessarily   always   disperse    when    they   see 
themselves    abandoned    by   their    leaders.       They 
have  also  succeeded  in  encouraging  the  enemy  by 
the    spectacle    of    such    weakness.       They    have 
succeeded,  finally,  in  precipitating  the  more  rapidly 
their  own  proteges  into  the  abyss.     You  have  not 
taken  part  in  these  turpitudes,  my  friend.       You 
have  already  begun  to  render  to   us   the  tribute 


THE   CATASTROPHE  187 

of  homage,  which  a  just  posterity  will  pay- 
in  fuU." 

The  letter  then  proceeds  to  exculpate  Le 
Pelletier  still  further  from  any  share  in  the  base 
conduct  of  others,  and  to  recall  his  loyal  expressions 
of  devotion  to  the  cause,  and  to  those  who  were 
now  in  prison  as  its  martyrs.  Babeuf  continues, 
that  to  a  man  who  has  spoken  and  who  thinks 
thus,  he  has  no  hesitation  in  addressing  the  appeal 
for  himself  and  his  family,  which  forms  the  con- 
cluding portion  of  the  letter. 

"  I  have  no  need,"  writes  Babeuf,  "  to  assure  you, 
that,  in  my  complete  devotion  to  the  people,  I  have 
not  thought  of  my  personal  affairs,  neither  have  I 
ever  forecast  as  to  what  might  happen  in  the  case 
of  the  failure  that  has  now  befallen  me.  I  leave 
two  children  and  a  wife,  and  I  leave  them  without 
a  cent,  without  the  means  of  livelihood.  No !  for 
a  man  like  Felix,  it  will  certainly  not  be  too 
onerous  a  legacy  to  impose  upon  him,  to  charge 
him  to  aid  these  unhappy  creatures  in  not  dying  of 
want.  The  daughter  of  Michel  Le  Pelletier  [the 
before-mentioned  murdered  member  of  the  Con- 
vention] will  assist  in  this  worthy  work ;  her 
character,  that  1  have  had  the  opportunity  of 
observing,  her  unmistakable  sensibility,  already 
accustomed  to  exercise  itself  towards  those  unfor- 
tunates that  the  world  has  made,  assure  me  of  all 
her  movements,  and  of  her  resolution  when  you 


188  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

cause  her  to  read  this  letter.  You  will  permit  me 
to  give  a  little  more  in  detail  what  I  wish  to  be 
done  for  the  unfortunates  that  I  am  abandoning. 
INIy  two  sons  :  the  elder,  as  far  as  I  can  judge  from 
the  little  that  has  been  done  for  his  education,  will 
not  have  a  great  aptitude  for  the  sciences.  This 
would  seem  also  to  argue  that  he  will  not  have  the 
ambition  to  play  any  important  role  in  the  political 
arena.  Hence  he  may  pass  his  life  quietly,  and 
thus  avoid  the  painful  lot  and  misfortunes  of  his 
father.  This  boy  has  at  least  an  excellent  judg- 
ment and  an  independent  spirit,  the  result  of  all  the 
ideas  in  which  he  has  been  nourished.  I  have 
sounded  him  as  to  what  he  would  like  to  be. 
Workman,  he  replied,  but  workman  of  the  most 
independent  class  possible,  and  he  cited  that  of 
the  printer.  He  was  not  so  far  wrong,  perhaps, 
and  I  desire  nothing  more  than  that  he  should 
follow  his  tastes.  I  can  say  nothing  as  regards 
his  younger  brother,  who  is  too  young  as  yet  to 
decide  anything  as  to  his  capacities ;  but  if  I  have 
ground  to  hope  that  you  will  do  as  much  for  him 
as  for  the  elder,  I  am  content.  Gracchus  Babeuf 
has  never  been  ambitious  for  himself  or  for  his 
children.  He  has  only  been  anxious  to  procure 
some  good  for  the  people.  He  would  be  too 
fortunate  if  he  knew  that  his  children  were  by 
way  of  becoming  some  day  good  and  peaceable 
artisans,  among  the  classes  of  which   society  has 


THE   CATASTROPHE  189 

always  need,  and  which  consequently  can  never  be 
wanting  to  her. 

"  As  regards  my  wife,  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that 
she  only  has  the  domestic  virtues  and  the  simple 
qualities  belonging  to  the  mother  of  a  family,  all 
that  will  be  necessary  to  preserve  her  from  a 
pitiable  want  will  be  very  little.  It  will  suffice  to 
advance  her  some  small  sum  to  place  her  in  a 
position  to  undertake  one  of  those  minor  occupa- 
tions such  as  furnish  all  that  is  necessary  to  keep 
a  small  family. 

"  And  now,  my  good  friend,  I  will  ask  of  you  one 
more  favour.  The  nature  of  my  trial  and  its  slow 
progi'ess  tell  me  that  I  have  still  a  certain  number 
of  days  to  live  before  that  day  when  I  shall  go  to 
sleep  myself  on  the  bed  of  honour,  to  expiate  the 
acts  which  render  me  supremely  culpable  in  the 
eyes  of  the  enemies  of  humanity.  1  can  wish,  for 
my  consolation,  that  my  mfe  and  my  children 
might  accompany  me,  so  to  say,  to  the  foot  of  the 
altar  where  I  shall  be  immolated ;  that  will  do  me 
much  more  good  than  a  confessor.  Place  them,  I 
pray  of  you,  in  a  position  to  make  the  journey,  so 
that  I  shall  not  be  deprived  of  this  last  satisfaction. 

"  ^ly  body  will  return  to  earth.  There  will 
remain  no  more  of  me  than  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  projects,  notes,  and  sketches  of  democratic  and 
revolutionary  writings,  all  tending  to  the  last  aim, 
to  the  complete  philanthropic  system  for  which  I 


190  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

die.  My  wife  will  be  able  to  collect  them  all ;  and 
one  day,  when  the  persecution  shall  have  slackened, 
when  perchance  good  men  shall  breathe  again, 
with  freedom  enough  to  be  able  to  cast  a  few 
flowers  on  our  tomb,  when  people  will  have 
come  to  think  again  on  the  means  for  procuring  to 
the  human  race  the  happiness  we  have  proposed 
for  it,  you  may  look  into  those  fragments,  and 
present  to  all  the  disciples  of  Equality,  to  those  of 
our  friends  who  preserve  our  principles  in  their 
hearts — you  may  present  to  them,  I  say,  for  the 
benefit  of  my  memory,  a  selection  of  these  divers 
fragments,  containing  all  that  the  corrupt  of  to-day 
call  my  dreams.  I  have  finished.  1  embrace  you 
and  bid  you  adieu.  G.  Babeuf." 

It  was  not  until  the  10th  Fructidor,  ann.  IV. 
(27th  August  1796),  that  Babeuf  and  his  associates 
were  transferred  to  Vendome  during  the  night,  in 
cages  made  on  purpose,  as  Buonarroti  alleges,  to 
make  of  them  an  exhibition  as  of  wild  beasts. 
Gendarmes  and  a  strong  detachment  of  cavalry 
escorted  the  vehicles  conveying  the  accused,  which 
were  followed  by  others  containing  their  wives  and 
children,  among  whom  were  Madame  Babeuf  and 
her  son  Emile.  Three  days  later  the  cortege  arrived 
at  Vendome,  the  accused  being  placed  in  the  cells 
under  the  court  buildings,  to  which  all  access  from 
outside   was   severely   prohibited.      According   to 


THE   CATASTROPHE  191 

Buonarroti,  the  evenings  were  relieved  by  the  sing- 
ing of  revolutionary  songs  on  the  part  of  the 
prisoners,  in  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  who 
happened  to  be  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  prison 
frequently  joined. 

The  high  court  which  was  to  try  them  was 
composed  of  the  president,  Gandon,  and  of  five 
other  judges,  Coffinhal,  Pajou,  Moreau,  Audier, 
and  ^Nlassillon.  There  were,  in  addition,  two  supple- 
mentary judges,  Lalonde  and  Ladeve.  The  public 
prosecutors  were  Viellart  and  Bailly.  The  jury 
was  composed  of  sixteen  members,  four  adjuncts, 
and  four  supplementary^  members.  But  the 
prisoners  had  still  some  months  to  wait  in  durance. 
At  last,  after  the  usual  formalities,  the  trial  began 
on  the  2nd  Ventose,  ann.  V.  (the  20th  February  '97), 
and  was  destined  to  drag  on  its  course  to  the 
7th  Prairial,  ann.  V.  (27th  May  1797). 

Meanwhile,  the  remains  of  the  party  of  which 
Babeuf  was  the  leader  were  not  inactive  in  Paris. 
Babeuf  and  his  associates  had  been  scarcely  a 
month  in  the  dungeons  beneath  the  courthouse  of 
Vendome  before  a  final  attempt,  which  had  been 
some  weeks  in  preparation,  was  made  to  win  over 
to  the  revolutionary  cause  the  mihtary  in  the 
camp  at  Crenelle,  near  Paris.  On  the  7th  of 
September  some  hundreds  of  followers  of  the 
Babeuf  movement  rose  in  abortive  insurrection. 
Their  plan  was  first  of  all  to  seize  the  palace  of  the 


192  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

Luxembourg,  the  official  residence  of  the  Directory, 
and  where  the  five  directors  were  sitting,  and  next, 
after  securing  the  persons  of  the  directors,  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  camp  of  Crenelle,  there  to  induce  a 
movement  among  the  military,  and  to  bring  back 
those  favourable  to  their  scheme  as  an  armed  force 
to  Paris. 

But  the  attack  on  the  Luxembourg  failed. 
The  authorities,  warned  in  time  of  the  move- 
ment that  was  on  foot,  reinforced  the  guards 
round  the  governmental  palace,  and  the  attacking 
force  was  driven  off,  although  not  effectively  dis- 
persed. The  insurgents  rallied  but  did  not  a 
second  time  attempt  to  penetrate  into  the  Luxem- 
bourg. Abandoning  this  part  of  their  plan,  they 
proceeded  in  a  body  to  Grenelle,  Here  they  had 
every  hope  of  success,  judging  from  the  reports 
they  had  received,  but  here  also  they  were  likewise 
doomed  to  a  failure  that  proved  the  final  disaster 
to  their  party.  On  summoning  the  camp,  in  which 
General  Latour  was  in  command,  to  join  them, 
they  were  greeted  with  an  unexpected  resistance, 
under  the  immediate  orders  of  Colonel  Mario. 
Instead  of,  as  they  had  hoped  and  expected,  tokens 
of  fraternisation,  they  were  met  by  a  series  of 
volleys  fired  into  their  number.  In  a  few  minutes 
they  were  in  panic-stricken  flight,  leaving  more 
than  a  hundred  dead  and  wounded  on  the  field. 

This  attempt  on  the  camp  at  Grenelle  was  the 


THE   CATASTROPHE  193 

last  dying  flicker  of  the  spirit  of  popular  insurrection 
in  Paris  and  France  for  a  long  time  to  come,  and 
may  be  fittingly  regarded  as  the  closing  episode  of 
the  French  Revolution,  considered  as  one  distinct 
and  connected  historical  event. 

The  Government  could  have  wished  for  noth- 
ing better  than  this  abortive  demonstration.  It 
afforded  them  an  excuse  for  hunting  down  all 
suspected  of  revolutionary  sympathies  in  Paris 
and  the  departments  surrounding  the  capital. 
Those  arrested  soon  approached  the  number  of 
300.  These  prisoners  were  not  brought  before 
the  ordinary  tribunals,  but  were  tried  by  a  specially 
appointed  military  commission,  in  other  words, 
a  court  martial.  As  might  be  expected,  numerous 
sentences  of  death  were  pronounced,  and  as  many 
as  thirty  persons  were  executed  by  military  platoons 
on  the  plain  of  Crenelle.  In  addition  to  this,  a 
large  number  were  sentenced  to  penal  servitude 
and  to  deportation.  The  only  prominent  person 
who  had  the  courage  to  defend  the  vanquished 
democrats  was  the  noble-minded  Pache,  the  late 
Mayor  of  Paris,  during  the  period  of  the  first 
Commune,  who  issued,  from  his  residence  in  the 
country,  whither  he  had  retired,  a  pamphlet  zeal- 
ously championing  the  unfortunate  victims,  and 
denouncing  in  scathing  terms  the  conduct  of  the 
governing  classes  of  the  day. 

13 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    TRIAL    OF    BABEUF    AND    HIS    COLLEAGUES 

On  the  opening  of  the  proceedings  on  the  2nd  of 
Ventose  (anno  V.),  forty -seven  prisoners  were 
brought  up,  eighteen  of  the  accused  being  en  con- 
tumace.  Among  the  latter  were  Drouet,  Lindet, 
Reys,  Le  Pelletier,  and  Rossignol.  A  large  force  of 
troops  surrounded  the  building  where  the  trial  was 
held,  while  each  of  the  accused  was  guarded  by 
two  gendarmes.  The  place  reserved  in  the  large 
audience  hall  for  the  public  was  always  filled  with 
admirers  of  the  incriminated  movement,  who  vigor- 
ously applauded  every  utterance  of  the  prisoners. 
Many  of  the  accused,  it  should  be  remarked,  though 
belonging  to  the  revolutionary  movement,  had  had 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  actual  conspiracy, 
but  were  arrested  out  of  spite.  Amongst  the 
prisoners  present  might  have  been  seen  the  old 
Jacobin  and  landlord  of  Robespierre,  Duplay  and 
his  son. 

Those  whose  voices  were  chiefly  heard  in  defence 

194 


THE   TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  195 

of  the  movement  were  those  of  Babeuf,  Germain, 
Antonelle,  and  Buonarroti. 

Darthe  remained  silent,  refusing  to  recognise 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  court.  He  made  one 
speech  only  at  the  beginning  of  the  proceedings, 
which  is  given  by  Buonarroti.  "As  for  me,"  it 
is  related  that  he  said,  "  if  providence  has  fixed 
for  this  epoch  the  end  of  my  career,  I  shall  end 
it  with  glory,  without  fear  and  without  regret. 
What  have  I  indeed  to  regret  ?  When  liberty 
succumbs ;  when  the  edifice  of  the  Republic  is 
crumbling  piece  by  piece;  when  its  name  has 
become  odious ;  when  its  friends,  worshippers  of 
Equality,  are  pursued,  are  hunted,  scattered, 
given  over  to  the  rage  of  assassins  or  to  the 
agonies  of  hunger ;  when  the  people  are  the 
prey  of  famine  and  of  want,  deprived  of  all  their 
rights,  abused,  despised,  crushed  beneath  a  yoke  of 
iron ;  when  this  sublime  Revolution,  the  hope  and 
consolation  of  oppressed  nations,  has  ceased  to  be 
more  than  a  phantom ;  when  the  defenders  of  the 
country  are  everywhere  covered  with  outrages, 
deprived  of  all,  maltreated,  bent  beneath  the  most 
odious  despotism ;  when,  as  the  price  of  their 
sacrifices,  of  their  blood  poured  out  in  the  common 
defence,  they  are  treated  as  criminals,  assassins,  and 
brigands,  their  laurels  changed  to  cypress ;  when 
royalism  is  everywhere  bold,  protected,  honoured, 
recompensed  even  with  the  blood  and  tears  of  the 


196  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

unfortunate ;  when  fanaticism  grasps  again  its 
poignards,  and  with  a  new  fury  ;  when  proscription 
and  death  are  suspended  over  the  heads  of  all 
virtuous  men,  of  all  the  friends  of  reason,  of  all 
those  who  have  taken  part  in  the  grand  and 
generous  efforts  in  favour  of  our  generation  ;  when, 
to  fill  up  the  tale  of  horror,  it  is  in  the  name  of  all 
that  is  most  sacred,  most  revered  on  earth,  in  the 
name  of  holy  friendship,  of  respected  virtue,  of 
honourable  probity,  and  of  beneficent  justice,  of 
sweet  humanity,  of  the  Divinity  itself,  that  the 
brigands  drag  desolation,  despair,  and  death  at  their 
heels  ;  when  profound  immorality,  horrible  treason, 
execrable  denunciation,  infamous  perjury,  brigand- 
age, and  assassination  are  officially  honoured, 
distinguished,  recognised,  and  qualified  with  the 
sacred  name  of  virtue ;  when  all  social  ties  are 
broken ;  when  France  is  covered  with  a  funereal 
crape ;  when  she  will  soon  offer  nothing  more  to 
the  horrified  eye  of  the  traveller  than  heaps  of 
corpses  and  smoking  deserts ;  when  the  country  is 
no  more — then  is  death  indeed  a  blessing  !  As  for 
myself,  I  leave  to  my  family  and  my  friends  neither 
opprobrium  nor  infamy.  They  will  be  able  to  cite 
with  pride  my  name  among  those  of  the  defenders 
and  martyrs  in  the  divine  cause  of  humanity.  I 
claim  with  confidence  to  have  passed  through  the 
whole  revolutionary  period  without  taint ;  never 
has  the  thought  of  a  crime  or  of  a  meanness  sullied 


THE   TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  197 

my  soul.  Thrown  when  young  into  the  Revolution, 
I  have  supported  all  its  fatigues,  have  borne  all  its 
dangers,  without  ever  falling  back.  I  have  had  no 
other  pleasure  than  the  hope  of  seeing  the  day  that 
should  found  the  durable  reign  of  equality  and  of 
liberty.  Solely  occupied  with  the  sublimity  of  this 
philanthropic  enterprise,  I  have  entirely  abnegated 
myself.  Personal  interests,  the  affairs  of  my  family, 
everything  has  been  forgotten  and  neglected.  My 
heart  has  never  beat  save  for  my  fellow-men  and 
for  the  triumph  of  justice." 

The  above  harangue,  with  its  characteristic 
eighteenth-century  ring,  were  the  only  words 
spoken  before  the  tribunal  by  Darthe.  The  prose- 
cution from  the  very  first  gave  evidence  of  the 
bitterness  of  its  animus  against  the  accused,  as  well 
as  against  everything  savouring  of  democracy. 
The  government  prosecutor  in  his  speech  conjured 
up  visions  of  a  faction  of  monstrous  beings  hitherto 
unknown  in  the  history  of  mankind,  children  of 
anarchy  and  crime,  to  which  the  prisoners  belonged. 
To  this  hideous  and  diabolical  faction  he  traced  all 
the  democratic  episodes  of  the  Revolution ;  its 
whole  course,  from  the  taking  of  the  Bastille  to  the 
fall  of  Robespierre,  was  involved  in  one  common 
anathema.  The  government  prosecutors  even  went 
so  far  on  the  side  of  reaction  as  to  condone  the 
royalist  insurrection  of  the  13th  Vendemiaire  of 
the  preceding  year.     Great  efforts  were  made  by 


198  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

the  judges  as  well  as  by  the  public  prosecutors  to 
prevent  the  accused  from  defending  or  even  ex- 
pounding the  doctrines  contained  in  the  pieces 
(Taccusation.  The  outrageous  conduct  of  the  court 
in  this  matter  led  to  frequent  "  scenes  "  throughout 
the  trial. 

The  Wle  attempts  of  these  government  agents 
to  blacken  and  vilify  the  characters  of  the  accused 
— imputing  dishonesty  to  men  who  had  notori- 
ously risked  their  lives  for  the  country,  and  who, 
unlike  their  enemies  and  accusers,  the  members 
of  the  then  governing  classes,  had  left  the  public 
offices  occupied  by  them,  before  the  triumph  of  the 
reaction,  in  a  state  of  poverty,  amounting  in  some 
cases  to  positive  indigence — led  to  many  an  out- 
burst of  indignation  from  prisoners  and  public  alike. 
For  these  men  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Revolution,  as  enshrined  in  the  "  Rights  of  JNlan  " 
and  the  Constitution  of  1793,  were  a  religion,  the 
sacred  trust  for  which  they  were  proud  to  suffer  all 
things,  and  if  need  were  to  sacrifice  their  lives. 
The  spirit  animating  them  was  shown  by  the  en- 
thusiasm with  which  they  chanted  their  republican 
hymns  in  court  each  day  at  the  close  of  the  trial. 

The  chief  witness  against  the  accused  was  the 
traitor  Grisel.  Together  with  him  were  other 
police  spies,  who,  however,  we  are  informed  by 
Buonarroti,  in  spite  of  their  metie7\  were  animated 
by  so  strong  a  moral  repulsion  to  the  archtraitor 


THE   TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  199 

that  they  refused  to  sit  beside  him.  The  defence 
attempted  to  get  rid  of  Grisel  by  invoking  the  law 
which  made  the  evidence  of  a  denunciator  legally 
inadmissible  in  cases  where  he  could  personally 
profit  by  his  denunciation,  whether  by  direct  pay- 
ment or  otherwise.  The  public  prosecutors,  in 
order  to  get  over  this  difficulty,  had  to  maintain 
that  Grisel  was  not  a  denunciator  "within  the 
meaning  of  the  Act,"  because,  forsooth,  his  first 
declaration  was  made,  not  to  the  police,  but  to  one 
of  the  Directors  (Carnot),  a  fact  which  constituted 
his  statements  a  simple  revelation,  and  not  a 
denunciation  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word, 
thereby  excluding  him  from  the  category  of  the 
law  as  invoked  by  the  prisoners.  Naturally  this 
quibble  excited  universal  derision,  but  the  court, 
as  might  have  been  expected,  admitted  it  all  the 
same.  Grisel  must  be  received  as  a  witness  at 
all  costs. 

There  were  in  all  five  hundred  pieces  de  convic- 
tion, consisting  of  documents  seized  in  the  house 
where  Babeuf  was  lodging  at  the  time  of  his  arrest. 
The  most  of  them  were  at  once  recognised  by  their 
authors,  though,  in  a  few  cases,  experts  were  called 
in  to  fix  the  identity  of  those  responsible  for  them. 
Among  them  were  the  reports  of  the  agents  work- 
ing in  the  interests  of  the  Secret  Directory  in 
the  several  arrondissements.  The  latter  docu- 
ments, which  for  the  most  part  bear  the  super- 


200  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

scription  JEgalite,  Liberie,  Bonheur  Commun,  relate 
to  the  question  of  the  state  of  feehng  in  the 
different  districts  and  the  persons  who  might  be 
relied  on  at  the  moment  of  insurrection,  to  the 
places  where  arms  were  stored,  etc. 

But  here  and  there  flashes  afford  us  an  interesting 
glimpse  of  the  Ufe  of  Paris  at  the  time  :  thus  [liasse 
xix.  17)  in  one  of  these  documents,  dated  in  the 
hand  of  Babeuf,  8  Floreal,  we  read : — "  Yesterday- 
morning  the  placard.  Soldier,  halt  again  !  produced 
the  greatest  effect  in  the  seventh  arrondissement. 
Among  other  places,  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue 
Cloche-Perche,  Rue  Antoine,  more  than  two  thou- 
sand readers  formed  a  queue.  A  patrol  of  cavalry 
passing  by  wanted  to  see  what  was  attracting  so 
great  a  concourse.  The  commandant,  dismounting, 
read  it  through,  and  was  desirous  of  tearing  it 
down,  in  order,  as  he  said,  to  give  it  his  comrades 
to  read.  On  its  being  represented  to  him  that  he 
could  not  remove  it  without  destroying  it,  he 
replied,  '  In  that  case  it  had  better  be  left  for  the 
people  to  read.'  He  remounted  his  horse  and 
went  off"  towards  the  boulevard.  Some  sought, 
nevertheless,  to  pull  it  down ;  but  a  group  of 
readers  opposed  themselves  to  this,  saying  that  it 
contained  truth."  That  a  crowd  of  two  thousand 
persons  should  so  readily  collect  to  read  a  placard 
is  symptomatic  of  the  excited  state  of  feeling  still 
dominating  the  Paris  populace. 


THE  TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  201 

A  great  fuss  was  made  as  to  a  document  con- 
taining some  words  which  Babeuf  had  covered 
vnth.  a  great  blot  of  ink.  The  discussion  on  this 
subject  bid  fair  to  become  a  free  fight  between 
the  prisoners,  their  counsel,  and  the  court.  The 
seance  had  to  be  abruptly  terminated,  the  prisoners, 
as  was  their  custom,  intoning  a  couplet  of  the 
Marseillaise :  Tj^emblez,  tyrans,  et  vous  perfides  ! 

On  one  occasion,  when  the  public  prosecutors 
complained  to  the  judges  of  the  prolongation  of 
the  trial,  alleging  that  a  number  of  voices  were 
being  raised  against  the  dilatoriness  of  the  proceed- 
ings in  the  high  court,  Babeuf  sprang  to  his  feet, 
exclaiming,  "  Whose  are  those  voices  ? "  and,  turning 
to  the  pubhc,  *' You  will  divine,  friends  of  the 
people ! "  He  proceeded  to  denounce  the  privi- 
leged classes,  many  of  whom  could  not  wait  the 
ordinary  course  of  law  in  their  bloodthirsty  im- 
patience to  immolate  their  victims.  In  this  cry  one 
would  hearken  in  vain  for  the  voices  of  the  four-and- 
twenty  millions  of  oppressed  people  of  whose  cause 
they,  the  prisoners,  were  the  defenders.  "  Virtue 
does  not  die,"  he  concluded.  "  Tyrants  may  wallow 
in  atrocious  persecution ;  they  do  but  destroy  the 
body  ;  the  soul  of  good  men  does  but  change  its 
covering ;  on  the  dissolution  of  one,  it  animates 
at  once  other  beings,  with  whom  it  continues  to 
inspire  generous  movements  which  never  more  allow 
the  crime  of  tyranny  to  rest  in  peace.     After  these 


202  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

last  thoughts,  and  after  all  the  iimoTBtioos  thftt 
I  see  introduced  every  day  to  hasten  my  holocaast, 
I  leave  to  my  oppressors  all  the  facilities  they 
desire :  I  neglect  useless  details  in  my  delence ; 
let  them  strike  without  reaching  anything ;  I  sImH  . 
sleep  in  peace  in  the  bosom  of  virtue." 

Grisel  related  his  experiences  during  two 
of  the  court.  Buonarroti  sa>-s  that  what  he  stated 
was  in  the  main  true  NVhat  revolted  everybody 
was  his  c\-nical  avowal  of  treachery  and  bfeadi  ci 
confidence.  Turning  towards  the  bencfa  where  the : 
accused  were  sitting,  he  said,  **  I  only  see  agents  here; 
not  one  of  them  was  the  real  chief  of  the  cooapumej ;  i 
behind  the  curtain  were  men  who  caused  these  to 
work  and  act."  This  remark  was  doubUes  aimed 
by  Grisel,  who  was  in  the  service  of  CamoC  agUDst 
the  latter's  fellow-director  and  enemy,  BarrasL 
The  statement,  however,  called  forth  from  Germain 
the  retort.  **  If  we  are  too  insignifieanU  go  to 
the  banks  of  the  Aube  to  dig  out  the  sand 
which  covers  the  corpse  of  my  wile!  go  <iispiile 
it  with  the  worms,  less  worthy  than  yomseif  to 
devour  it !  fling  yourself  like  a  famishrd  tiger  oo 
my  mother !  add  my  sisters  and  their  chikiren  to 
your  ab  '  tear  my  soo  frotn  the  feehte 

anus  of  n.?  n^.--.  ....  crush  his  tender  hmbs  under 
your  carnivorous  tang  I  "  Grisel  having  leJeind  to 
the  insurrection  of  Prairial.  ann.  1 1 1.,  in  witeimito- 
ous   terms,  was  countered   bv  Babeul  who,  in  a 


'A 


THE    TRIAL   OE   BABEUF  203 

harangue  redolent  of  eighteenth-centun*  eloquence, 
glorified  the  insurrection  and  its  \ictims.  till  the 
court  compelled  the  speaker  to  resume  his  seat- 
Two  soldiers  named  Meunier  and  Barbier  respec- 
tively, who  had  been  condemned  already  to  two 
years"  hard  labour  for  disaffection  in  the  legion 
of  pohce.  were  brought  up  from  Vendome  to 
confirm  certain  statements  made  by  them  in 
moments  of  weakness.  Far  firom  doing  what  was 
demanded  of  them,  they  now  denied  ever)-thing. 
Bowing  to  the  accused,  they  saluted  them  by 
repubhcan  songs.  They  greeted  them  as  friends 
of  the  people,  demanding  to  partake  in  their  glor>*. 
Their  conduct  resulted  subsequently  in  a  fresh 
condemnation.  Of  the  five  hundred  incriminating 
documents  seized  at  Babeufs  lodging,  many  were 
obWously  written  by  his  own  hand,  though  some 
of  these  were  doubtless  only  copied  out  by  him. 

The  whole  weight  of  the  prosecution  bore  upon 
Babeuf  His  interrogation  lasted  during  nine  long 
sittings.  The  attempts  to  explain  away  these  docu- 
ments on  the  part  of  the  accused  were  naturally 
successful  only  in  a  very  limited  degree.  As 
Buonarroti  observes,  their  defence  amounted  to 
no  more  than  a  not  very  coherent  tissue  of  sophism, 
which,  he  adds,  they  only  permitted  themselves 
out  of  consideration  for  their  companions  in  mis- 
fortune. "  The  true  defence  of  the  accused."  he 
says,  "  rests  entirely  in  the  avowal  that  they  made 


204  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

of  their  democratic  doctrines ;  in  the  solemn 
homage  which  they  rendered  to  the  Constitution 
of  1793,  and  in  their  perseverance  in  justifying 
hypothetically  the  object  of  the  conspiracy."  The 
conspiracy,  of  course,  centred  in  the  formation  of 
a  Secret  Directory,  the  object  of  which  was 
insurrection.  It  was  this  "usurpation  of  the 
sovereignty,"  as  it  was  termed,  that  formed  the 
central  indictment  of  the  prosecution.  "  We  have 
not  here,"  said  Babeuf,  "  a  trial  of  indi\'iduals ;  we 
have  a  trial  of  the  Republic  itself.  It  must,  in 
spite  of  all,  be  treated  with  the  dignity,  the  majesty, 
and  the  devotion  that  so  powerful  an  interest 
commands.  All  republicans,"  said  Babeuf,  "are 
implicated  in  this  affair;  consequently  it  belongs 
to  the  Republic,  to  the  Revolution,  to  history." 
He  proceeded  to  thank  the  genius  of  liberty  for 
having  furnished  him  with  a  tribune,  even  though 
it  were  the  bench  of  the  accused,  from  which  to 
declare  the  truth. 

A  vehement  assertion  of  admiration  for  the 
Constitution  of  '93,  and  the  denunciation  of  the 
illegal  violence  with  which  those  in  power  had 
deprived  the  people  of  the  rights  belonging  to 
them  by  virtue  of  it,  brought  down  upon  him 
the  intervention  of  the  judges,  who  condemned 
him  to  silence.  Buonarroti,  when  his  turn  came, 
justified  the  existence  of  the  Secret  Directory 
and    its   manifestoes    as   in    no   way    contrary   to 


THE   TRIAL    OF   BABEUF  205 

law  or  to  revolutionary  precedent.      Babeuf  sub- 
sequently   returned    to    the    charge,    proclaiming 
at  the  top  of  his   voice   "the  awakening   of  the 
true  people,  the  reign  of  happiness,  the  reign  of 
equality  and  hberty,   abundance  for   all,  equality 
and    liberty   for   all,    the   happiness  of  all  —  such 
are    the    aims    of    these    pretended    conspirators, 
who  have  been  painted  in  such  horrifying  colours 
before   the   eyes   of    all   France ! "      He  justified 
the  revolutionary  principle  of  the  sacred  right  of 
insurrection,  repudiating  with  energy  the  whittling 
away  of   this   principle   by  the    prosecution  with 
the    specious    sophism    that    insurrection   is   only 
legitimate  when  it  is  made  by  the  universality  of 
the   citizens,  such  being   ob\'iously  equivalent  to 
the  assertion  that  it  was  never  justified.     On  some 
of  his  colleagues,  notably  Ricord,  seeking  to  throw 
the  responsibility  for  certain  of  the  most  aggi^essive 
manifestoes   on    the    ageiits  provocateurs   of    the 
government,    Grisel's    name    being   mentioned   in 
connection  with  the  "  Insurrectionary  Act,"  Babeuf 
indignantly    spurned    this     cowardly    method    of 
defence    by    shamefaced     denial    and    falsehood. 
Turning  to  Ricord,  "  No  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  Grisel 
did   not   do   it.       It   is   not   a   piece   which   need 
make  its  author  blush,  and  Grisel  is  too  great  a 
scoundrel  to  have  drawn  up  any  such  document." 
Buonarroti,  when  his  turn  came  to  speak,  detailed 
his    career   since    the    da^vn   of    the    Revolution, 


206  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

defended  the  Constitution  of  1793,  and  denounced 
the  usurping  government  based  on  that  of  the 
year  HI. 

As  the  trial  went  on,  day  by  day,  the  interest 
of  the  pubUc  in  the  proceedings  and  the  sym- 
pathy shown  with  the  prisoners  grew  rather  than 
abated.  It  had  its  echo  outside  the  walls  of 
the  court-house  in  an  abortive  attempt  to  induce 
a  mutiny  in  their  favour  on  the  part  of  the  soldiers 
placed  on  guard  at  the  tribunal.  A  plot  was  formed 
for  the  escape  at  least  of  those  most  seriously 
compromised.  Suitable  tools  were  smuggled  into 
the  prison,  by  the  aid  of  which  a  large  breach  in 
one  of  the  walls  was  made.  The  moment  for 
escape  had  actually  arrived  when,  through  the 
careless  conduct  of  one  of  the  accused,  suspicion 
was  aroused  with  the  authorities,  the  plan  dis- 
covered, and  all  hope  of  flight  was  at  an  end. 

Meanwhile,  the  public  prosecutors  demanded  the 
guillotine  for  sundry  of  the  prisoners,  while  their 
task  in  demonstrating  at  once  the  reality  and 
gravity  of  the  conspiracy  was  an  easy  one,  given 
the  mass  of  incriminatory  material.  The  accused, 
on  their  side,  for  the  most  part  took  the  line  of 
defence  that,  even  if  there  had  been  a  conspiracy, 
it  was  justified  by  the  fact  that  the  Constitution, 
against  which  it  was  admittedly  directed,  was 
itself  illegal,  being  contrary  to  the  will  of  the 
people,  by  which  it  had  never  been  ratified,  and 


THE   TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  207 

subversive  of  that  will,  inasmuch  as  it  abrogated 
the  Constitution  of  1793,  which,  on  its  side,  had 
been  solemnly  accepted  by  the  popular  voice.  In 
a  word,  they  argued  that  the  existing  government, 
and  the  constitution  on  which  it  was  based,  was 
null  and  void,  having  no  claim  on  the  allegiance 
of  French  citizens.  The  attempt  to  overthrow  it, 
therefore,  so  far  from  being  a  crime,  was  rather  the 
assertion  of  legality  against  usurpation. 

The  public  prosecutors  refused  to  enter  into  this 
question  of  right  and  justification,  confining  their 
speeches  to  a  demonstration  of  the  fiicts  which 
could  not  effectively  be  denied.  They  could  show 
without  difficulty  that  there  had  been  a  conspiracy, 
which  aimed  at  subverting  the  government  and 
at  overthrowing  the  existing  economic  bases  of 
society.  Beyond  this,  it  only  remained  for  them 
to  paint  in  vivid  terms  the  horrors  of  anarchy, 
bloodshed,  and  general  destruction  which  would 
have  ensued  on  the  success  of  the  conspirators, 
whose  characters  and  intentions  were,  of  course, 
blackened  by  suitable  calumnies.  The  conclusion 
drawn  was,  that  the  equality  and  popular  sovereignty 
aimed  at  by  the  prisoners  must  inevitably  lead, 
through  anarchy,  to  the  return  of  a  king. 

The  prosecution  demanded  that  the  jurors  should 
be  limited  to  examining  the  question  of  fact,  whether 
there  had  really  been  an  attempt  to  destroy  the 
Constitution  of  the  year  III.,  and  that  all  questions 


208  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

as  to  its  justification  should  be  ruled  out.  This 
view  was,  of  course,  adopted  by  the  court,  but 
its  adoption  did  not  prevent  the  prisoners  from 
developing  their  own  principles  and  their  full 
consequences  to  the  jury,  including  a  drastic  in- 
dictment of  the  authors  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
year  III.,  which  placed  full  power  in  the  hands  of 
an  oligarchy,  with  the  dictatorship  of  a  co-opted 
committee  at  its  head.  These  expressions  of 
opinion  the  judges  found  it  impossible  to  suppress. 
In  championing  the  cause  of  the  popular  Consti- 
tution of  1793,  the  accused  were  careful  to 
expose  the  trick  by  which  the  governing  classes, 
the  authors  of  the  Constitution  of  the  year  III., 
which  supplanted  it,  had  endeavoured  to  get  public 
opinion  on  their  side  in  attempting  to  tar  it  and 
all  revolutionary  principles  with  the  responsibility 
for  the  excesses  of  the  government  of  the  Terror. 

"  You  are  always  recalling,"  said  they  (through 
the  mouth  of  Babeuf),  "  the  measures  of  1793,  but 
you  pass  over  in  silence  all  that  preceded  the 
unhappy  necessity  that  originated  them.  You 
forget  to  remind  France  of  the  innumerable 
treacheries  which  caused  thousands  of  citizens  to 
perish ;  you  forget  to  speak  of  the  alarming  pro- 
gress of  the  war  in  La  Vendee,  of  the  liberation  of 
our  frontiers,  of  the  defection  of  Dumouriez,  and  of 
the  revolting  protection  found  for  him  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  Convention  itself ;  you  forget  to  recall 


THE   TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  209 

the  unheard-of  cruelties  by  which  the  barbarous 

Vendeans  tore  to  pieces  and  put  to  death  with  the 

most  refined  torments  the  defenders  of  the  country 

and  all  of  those  who  retained  some  attachment  to 

the  Republic.     If  you  invoke   the   shades   of  the 

victims  of  a  deplorable  severity  brought  about  by 

the  ever-growdng  dangers  of  the  country,  we  shall 

exhume  the  corpses   of  the  Frenchmen  strangled 

by  the   counter-revolutionaries    at   Montauban,  at 

Nancy,  at  the  Champs  de  Mars,  in  La  Vendee,  at 

Lyons,  at  Marseilles,  at  Toulon.     We  shall  awaken 

the  shades  of  the  millions  of  republicans  mowed  down 

at  our  frontiers  by  the  partisans  of  that  tyranny  for 

the  return  of  which  they  ceaselessly  conspired,  even 

in  the  bosom  of  France  itself;  we  shall  pour  into 

the  balance  the  blood  shed  by  your  friends  in  cold 

calculation  \\ath  that  which  the  patriots  have  caused 

to  flow,  with  regret,  in  the  urgency  of  defence  and 

in  the  exaltation  of  the  love  of  liberty.     Is  it  us  or 

is  it  liberty  that  the  national  accusers  have  charged 

themselves  to  prosecute?     Their   infatuation   ^yi[l 

not  be  useless  to  us,  and  the  jurors  will  discover, 

doubtless,  in  the   partiality  of  the   pictures  they 

draw,  in   the   afflsctation  with  which  they  distort 

histor}',  and  in  the  zeal  with  which  they  heap  on 

the  heads  of  the  accused  acts  to  which  the  latter  are 

total  strangers,  that  secret  hatred  which  the  enemies 

of  the  Republic,  cleverer  than  ourselves,  have  vowed 

to  its  intrepid  and  too  confident  defenders." 

14 


■BIBBBBE! 


210  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

One  and  all  of  the  prisoners  gloried  in  their 
aiFection  for  the  Constitution  of  the  year  1793, 
as  guaranteeing  to  the  people  the  inalienable 
right  of  making  its  own  laws,  and  for  its  having 
been  accepted  with  all  but  unanimity  by  the 
French  people.  So  conclusive  was  the  logic  of  the 
defence  that  it  did  not  fail  at  certain  times  to 
stagger  the  public  prosecutors  themselves,  who 
were  often  at  a  loss  for  a  reply.  Were  they  being 
indicted,  demanded  the  accused,  for  having  called 
the  attention  of  the  people  to  the  violation  of  their 
rights  that  had  been  practised  upon  them  ?  In 
that  they  were  only  making  use  of  that  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press  that  even  the  Constitution 
of  the  year  III.  itself  guaranteed  to  all  Frenchmen. 
While  contending  that  their  accusers  had  altogether 
failed  to  prove  the  existence  of  the  "  dangerous  and 
criminal  conspiracy  "  alleged  by  them,  they  never- 
theless maintained,  that  had  they  really  conspired 
to  re-establish  the  Constitution  of  1793,  they  would 
only  have  been  doing  their  duty  as  citizens  in 
fulfilling  the  oath  to  be  faithful  to  liberty,  to  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people,  and  to  the  RepubUc. 
Speaking  of  the  communism  with  which  he  and  his 
companions  were  charged,  Babeuf  boldly  reaffirmed 
the  proposition  he  had  often  enough  preached  in 
the  Pantheon  Club,  as  well  as  in  the  Tribun  du 
Peuple,  that  private  property  is  the  cause  of  all  the 
evils  on  the  face  of  the  earth.     "  By  the  preaching 


THE   TRIAL    OF   BABEUF  211 

of  this  doctrine,"  said  he,  "  long  ago  proclaimed  by 
the  wise,  I  have  sought  to  rally  to  the  Republic 
the  people  of  Paris,  tired  of  revolutions,  discouraged 
by  misfortunes,  and  almost  converted  to  royalism 
by  the  intrigues  of  the  enemies  of  liberty." 

Babeuf's  defence  occupied  four  days.  It  was 
very  diffuse  in  character,  constituting  an  elaborate 
vindication  of  his  whole  theory  and  policy.  It  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the  scope  and  inten- 
tion of  the  present  work  precludes  its  being  given 
in  extefiso,  or  indeed  in  anything  fuller  than  a  com- 
paratively summary  analysis.  The  complete  text, 
as  revised  by  Babeuf,  and  left  by  him  for  publication, 
extends  over  more  than  three  hundred  closely- 
printed  pages.  These,  however,  comprise  most  of 
the  material — proclamations,  decrees,  manifestoes, 
etc. — already  given  or  described. 

The  many  incidents  referred  to  generally  in  the 
foregoing,  respecting  the  conduct  of  the  proceedings, 
reached  their  climax  during  the  twenty-first  sitting, 
when  the  President,  losing  his  temper,  stopped 
Babeuf  abruptly  with  the  words  : — "  Up  till  now  it 
is  you  who  have  been  conducting  these  discussions. 
I  declare  to  you  that  from  this  day  it  will  be  me." 
He  expressed  his  indignation  at  hearing  Babeuf 
deny  the  conspiracy,  recalling  the  letter  to  the 
Directory  of  the  21st  of  Floreal  (see  page  174),  after 
his  arrest,  in  which  he  offered  to  treat  with  them  on 
terms  of  equality,  claiming  that  he  was  the  centre 


212  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

of  the  last  conspiracy  of  Democrats.  To  this 
Babeuf  repHed,  he  only  wanted  to  scare  the  Govern- 
ment in  order  to  save  the  Democrats,  and  convey 
the  impression  of  a  great  conspiracy.  Babeuf  vi^as 
continuing  the  discussion  when  the  President  again 
interrupted,  and,  with  menacing  gestures,  called  out, 
"  We  have  had  enough  of  your  speeches,  considering 
that  you  now  say  you  only  took  a  secondary  part  in 
the  movement.  Who  were,  then,  the  real  instigators 
of  the  conspiracy  ? "  The  answer  of  Babeuf  to  this 
question  was,  that  the  moment  had  not  yet  arrived 
for  him  to  give  that  explanation.  This  question  of 
the  President  was  not  warranted  by  the  facts, 
because  throughout  the  proceedings  Babeuf  never 
shrank  from  the  responsibility  of  the  part  that  he 
had  taken,  and  in  no  way  endeavoured  to  foist  the 
blame  upon  his  colleagues ;  on  the  contrary,  he  did 
everything  to  emphasise  his  personal  responsibility 
for  all  that  had  taken  place. 

These  are  examples  only  of  the  various  episodes 
that  arose  in  the  course  of  the  proceedings,  and  were 
prior  to  the  actual  opening  by  Babeuf  of  his 
defence-in-chief  The  indignation  of  the  audience 
was  apparent,  and  someone  shouted,  "  You  have  no 
right  to  put  obstacles  in  the  way  of  an  accused  in 
conducting  his  case ;  and  in  particular,"  indicating 
Babeuf,  "•  in  any  case  his  head  is  here  to  pay  ! "  Con- 
siderable disturbance  was  created  by  the  noise  and 
angry  exclamations  from  the  accused,  who  shouted 


THE   TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  213 

invectives  against  the  judges,  and  demanded  how  it 
was  possible  for  them  fairly  to  defend  themselves  ? 
Although  indisposed  in  health,  owing  to  his  long 
confinement,  at  the  twenty-fourth  sittingof  the  Court 
Babeuf  demanded  to  be  allowed  to  make  an  appli- 
cation to  the  Court.  The  President  demurred,  with 
harshness,  saying : — "  Are  you  going  to  read  us  all 
these  volumes  ?  How  long  do  you  mean  to  take  ? " 
Babeuf  replied,  "The  time  necessary  to  state  my 
defence  !  "  Then  he  asked  for  an  adjournment  for 
eight  days  to  enable  him  to  prepare  his  statement, 
urging  that  it  was  impossible  to  defend  himself 
without  preparation.  After  considerable  discussion, 
the  Court  settled  down ;  and  order  being  restored, 
it  was  decided  to  grant  a  delay  of  four  days.  On  the 
reassembling  of  the  Court  after  a  lapse  of  six  days, 
Babeuf  began  his  speech.  He  read  from  a  written 
statement  of  two  hundred  folio  sheets,  and  went 
through  the  documents  forming  the  grounds  of  the 
charge  against  himself  and  his  colleagues,  which 
were,  as  already  stated,  very  voluminous,  making 
three  or  four  large  bundles.  He  reminded  the  Court 
of  the  extraordinary  length  of  the  Act  of  Accusation, 
and  said  that  its  length  and  the  nature  of  the  speeches 
for  the  prosecution  had  given  to  those  proceedings 
such  prominence  and  grave  importance,  and  those 
documents  and  the  speeches  gave  so  many  varied 
reports  of  the  movement,  that  it  was  necessary  for 
him  to  combat  them  in  detail.     He  lost  no  oppor- 


214  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

tunity  of  making  propaganda  for  the  principles 
underlying  the  acts  brought  against  the  accused, 
warmly  denouncing  the  corruption  and  treachery 
towards  the  people  of  those  in  power.  At  the  same 
time  he  did  not  spare  the  weak  places  in  the 
armour  of  the  prosecution.  For  example,  the  strong 
point  made  by  the  latter  was  the  attempt  of  the 
"  Equals,"  as  represented  by  their  Secret  Directory, 
to  corrupt  the  Legion  of  Police.  He  showed  that 
the  latter  was  already  disaffected,  quite  apart  from 
the  agitation  of  his  own  party.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  body  called  the  "  Legion  of  Police  "  was  largely 
composed  of  members  of  the  old  "revolutionary 
army  "  of  the  First  Paris  Commune  in  the  Hebert- 
ist  days,  and  was  rife  with  Hebertist  views. 
Babeuf  claimed  indulgence  for  his  prolixity  and 
apparent  disorder,  and  said  that  an  accused  before 
his  judges  must  not  be  assumed  guilty  before  he 
had  been  fully  heard,  that  there  was  a  danger  of 
an  apparent  show  of  confusion,  which  might  be  mis- 
taken for  consciousness  of  guilt.  He  quoted  the 
words  of  Mably,  who,  writing  upon  criminal  legis- 
lation, said,  "  The  first  sentiment  of  an  honest  man 
when  he  is  accused  of  crime  is  a  certain  feeling  of 
shame  which  embaiTasses  him,  and  he  is  momen- 
tarily at  a  loss  to  defend  himself.  He  dreads  the 
uncertainty  of  human  judgment.  It  would  be 
monstrous  to  take  this  embarrassment  for  a  con- 
fession of  guilt."     He  said  it  would  be  fairer  if  an 


THE   TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  215 

innocent  man,  when  accused,  were  enabled  to  calmly 
justify  himself,  and  present  the  truth  to  his  tribunal 
without  the  embarrassing  presence  and  interruption 
of  his  accusers. 

"  I  have  dared  to  conceive  and  preach  the 
following  doctrine  : — 

•'  The  natural  right  of  men  and  their  destiny  to 
be  happy  and  free.  Society  is  instituted  to 
guarantee  the  more  certainly  to  each  member  the 
natural  right  of  his  destiny.  When  these  natural 
rights  are  not  the  lot  of  all,  the  social  pact  is 
broken.  In  order  to  prevent  the  social  pact  being 
broken,  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  guarantee.  This 
guarantee  can  only  reside  in  the  right  of  each 
citizen  to  watch  over  its  infractions,  to  denounce 
them  to  all  its  members,  to  be  the  first  to  resist 
oppression,  and  to  exhort  other  members  to  resist. 
Hence  the  in\'iolable,  indefinite,  and  individual 
right  to  think,  to  reflect,  and  to  communicate  one's 
thoughts  and  reflections ;  to  observe  continually  if 
the  conditions  of  the  social  pact  are  maintained  in 
their  integrity,  in  their  entire  conformity  to  natural 
rights ;  to  rise  up  against  their  invasion  by  oppres- 
sion and  against  tyranny  so  soon  as  recognised  ;  to 
propose  means  for  repressing  these  attempts  at  usur- 
pation by  those  who  govern,  and  to  reconquer  all 
rights  lost.  Such  is  the  doctrine  solely  on  account 
of  which  I  am  persecuted.  All  the  rest  of  what 
they  im.pute  to  me  is  a  mere  pretext." 


216  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

Once  more  we  see   in   the   foregoing   how   the 
inevitable    social    compact    theory    incarnated    in 
Rousseau  dominated  the  revolutionary  mind.     In 
this   respect  Babeuf  was   no  more  than  the  echo 
of  contemporary  thought.     He   continues :   "  Ah, 
indeed,  we  are  not  the  first  men  who  have  been 
persecuted  by  the  powers  on  earth  for  holding  the 
like  principles.     Socrates  there  was,  whose  end  was 
the  poisoned  cup  ;  Jesus,  the  Galilean,  who  preached 
equality  of  men,  the  hatred  of  riches,  the  love  of 
justice  and  truth  ;  Lycurgus,  who  exiled  himself  to 
avoid  being  sacrificed  by  those  whom  he  had  bene- 
fited ;    Agis,  the  only  just  one  among  the  kings, 
who  was  killed  because  he  was  an  exception  to  the 
rule ;  the  Gracchi  at  Rome,  who  were  massacred ; 
Manlius,  who  was  thrown  from  the  capitol ;  Cato, 
who  stabbed  himself ;  Barneveldt  and  Sydney,  who 
went  to  the  scaffold ;  Margarot,  who  vegetated  in 
the   deserts ;    Kosciusko,   who   languished   in  the 
dungeons  of  St  Petersburg ;  James  Welldon,  who 
had  his  heart  torn  out ;  and,  nearer  home,  in  our 
revolution,  the  martyr  Michel  Le   Pelletier,   who 
perished  by  the  steel  of  the  assassin."     Babeuf  says 
further,  that  it  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that 
the  proceedings  of  the  accusers  against  himself  and 
his   colleagues   were   political   movements   in   the 
French    Revolution,  and   that   upon  the  ultimate 
issue  would  depend  the  standing  or  falling  of  the 
Republic.     The  royalists,  always  on  the  alert,  were 


THE   TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  217 

vigilantly  waiting  at  all  the  doors  for  the  results  of 
the  trial.  "  My  name,"  says  he,  in  effect,  "  has 
acquired  a  fatal  celebrity,  as  it  has  been  given  to 
the  sect  which  saw  through  them  all,  and  had 
already  devoted  them  to  the  poignards.  The 
epithets,  etc.,  of  Robespierrists,  Terrorists,  Jacobins, 
and  Anarchists  have  disappeared ;  their  place  is 
taken  by  that  of  Babouvists.  In  the  democracy 
of  Rome  T  should  have  been  convoked  before  an 
assembly  of  the  people  in  a  public  place,  and  the 
people  themselves  would  have  been  my  judges  as 
to  whether  I  had  betrayed  them ;  but  in  a  great 
State  like  France  such  a  trial  is  impossible,  and  the 
people  cannot  constitute  themselves  a  tribunal  to 
judge  those  who  are  accused  of  conspiring  against 
them  or  their  accepted  Government."  Babeuf  con- 
tended that  he  and  his  colleagues  could  not  be 
brought  within  the  definition  of  conspirators  as 
given  by  the  prosecution  in  its  opening  speech, 
according  to  which  "  conspiracy "  meant  to  over- 
throw the  legitimately  established  Government,  for 
they  had  been  unable  to  show  by  any  of  the 
numerous  writings  and  documents  quoted  and 
produced  against  him  any  elements  of  such  a  con- 
spiracy. He  claimed  that  his  writings,  manifestoes, 
decrees,  and  proclamations  contained  nothing  more 
than  the  precepts  put  forward  by  such  eminent 
writers  as  Mably,  Rousseau,  Diderot,  Morelly,  and 
others,  who  were  all  tolerated,  and  were  the  great 


218  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

masters  of  whom  he  and  his  colleagues  were  only  the 
disciples ;  that  he  claimed  the  liberty  of  the  press 
to  dilate  on  and  review  the  doctrines  and  teachings 
of  such  great  authorities.  Men  like  Tallien  and 
Armand  de  la  Meuse  had  advocated  the  same 
principles  in  their  writings  and  speeches,  and  still 
remained  in  the  legislative  assembly.  Why  were 
they  not  also  brought  before  the  High  Court  ?  And 
he  quoted  passages  from  Tallien's  paper,  L'Ami 
des  Sans-culottes,  No.  71,  and  a  long  speech  of  the 
deputy  Armand  de  la  Meuse  before  the  Convention, 
in  which  views  were  expressed  such  as  were  common 
at  the  time,  as  to  reducing  the  income  of  the  rich 
for  alleviating  the  needs  of  the  poor,  the  result 
being  a  tendency  to  the  equalisation  of  income,  or 
at  least  to  the  rendering  impossible  of  anything 
approaching  the  extremes  of  luxurious  wealth  on 
the  one  hand  and  penurious  indigence  in  the  other 
such  as  was  the  usual  form  assumed  by  aspirations, 
towards  economic  equality  during  the  French 
Rev^olution.  Exclaimed  Babeuf  in  conclusion — 
"  These,  then,  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  are  the 
doctrines  preached  to  the  conventional  assembly 
by  a  man  who  is  still  actually  a  member  of  the 
Corps  Legislatif,  and  whom  nobody  ever  dreamt 
of  calling  a  conspirator  !  "  The  inevitable  allusions 
to  Christian  teaching  followed,  with  the  reminder 
that  these  same  doctrines  brought  the  founder  of 
Christianity  to  a  similar  position  to  that  in  which 


THE   TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  219 

he  himself  was  now  placed,  and  ultimately  led  to 
his  condemnation  and  execution  as  a  conspirator. 
Babeuf  refers  with  dramatic  eloquence  and  sensa- 
tional warmth  to  the  fact  of  the  arrest  of  his  wife, 
already  told  of,  which  he  characterises  as  an  act  of 
"  gross  immorality  "  on  the  part  of  the  authorities, 
and  complains  of  the  conduct  of  the  magistrate  or 
police  official  who  was  responsible  for  that  act,  and 
to  the  petition  of  the  people  of  Arras  to  the 
executive  Directory  asking  for  the  punishment  of 
that  magistrate.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Arras  was  the  town  where,  with  Charles  Germain 
and  others,  he  was  retained  in  prison  for  a  long 
period  without  trial.  He  further  goes  on  to  relate 
to  the  jury  the  facts  relative  to  the  Bodson  corre- 
spondence, applying  for  a  fair  consideration  by  them 
of  the  above-mentioned  document.  This  corre- 
spondence with  Bodson,  Babeuf  maintains,  was 
absolutely  confidential,  and  most  unfairly  brought 
forward  against  him  by  the  prosecution.  He  says  : 
"  Is  it  not  permitted  to  me  to  write  ?  Is  it  not 
permitted  to  me,  the  same  as  to  others,  to  com- 
municate by  letter  with  whom  I  wish?  Since 
when  have  confidential  communications  in  friend- 
ship been  Hable  to  be  delivered  to  a  tribunal,  and 
to  be  made  the  foundation  of  a  prosecution  ? " 
He  emphasises  these  incidents,  and  claims  that  they 
show  the  undue  severity  and  harshness  meted  out 
to  him  and  his,  and  to  those  friends  who  participated 


220  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

in  his  ideas,  and  urges  that  nothing  contained  in 
these  documents  could  be  evidence  of  conspiracy 
against  him  ;  and  if  at  times  he  had  been  violent  in 
his  expressions  in  the  articles  published  in  his  paper 
Le  Trihun,  especially  referring  to  l^o.  40,  it  was 
occasioned  by  the  unjust  acts  of  the  authorities, 
which  were  an  outrage  on  humanity,  justice,  and 
the  constitution.  He  points  out  an  important 
passage  in  the  Act  of  Accusation  which  was  to  the 
following  effect ; — 

"  If  these  individuals  associate  together  in  meet- 
ings, communicating  their  ideas,  their  wishes,  and 
their  hopes  ;  if  they  arrange  a  plan  of  execution  in 
which  all  promise  to  concur ;  if  each  of  them 
charges  himself  with  and  fulfils  a  certain  role ;  if 
the  combined  efforts  of  all  are  directed  toward  one 
common  end ;  if  amongst  them  they  establish  an 
organisation,  chiefs  who  give  orders  and  instructions ; 
if  they  appoint  their  agents  to  carry  out  those 
orders  conformably  to  those  instructions,  there 
then  exists  a  conspiracy ;  it  is  concerted  action 
which  gives  it  that  character ;  and  this  conspiracy 
is  the  most  criminal  of  undertakings  when  its  aim 
is  the  overthrow  of  the  estabhshed  government, 
and  the  handing  over  of  the  nation  to  the  most 
horrible  anarchy. 

"  Such  is  precisely  the  result  of  the  documents 
that  we  shall  produce.  You  will  see  that  there 
was  a  complete  organisation,  a  constituted  director- 


THE   TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  221 

ate,  with  appointed  and  empowered  agents  who  had 
accepted  their  positions  ;  instructions  given  by  the 
chiefs,  only  too  faithfully  performed  by  these  same 
agents ;  an  active  correspondence  between  them ; 
a  perfectly  concerted  plan  established,  all  working 
in  accord,  that  they  might  more  surely  arrive  at 
the  common  end.  And  what  was  that  end  ?  The 
overthrow  of  the  constitution,  the  extinguishment 
of  all  legitimate  authority,  innumerable  massacres, 
universal  plunder,  the  absolute  subversion  of  all 
social  order." 

Babeuf  reviews  this  charge,  saying : — "  I  hope, 
Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  to  be  able  to  prove  to  you 
that  such  was  not  the  result  of  the  documents 
produced.  That  there  was  not  such  an  organisa- 
tion, directory,  body  of  empowered  agents,  institu- 
tion, execution,  intention,  and  aim,  as  pretended 
by  the  prosecution."  He  declares  that  he  had 
shown  during  his  examination  that  the  organisation 
of  which  he  was  a  member  was  not  such  an  associa- 
tion, but  a  Club  or  Reunion  of  Democrats,  who 
met  together  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the 
public  misfortune  and  affairs  of  interest  to  the 
country,  with  the  desire  and  intention  of  ameliorat- 
ing the  condition  of  the  people,  and  that  with  this 
view  they  propounded  plans  and  philanthropic 
schemes  of  all  kinds  ;  that  this  club  was  the  outcome 
of  the  Society  of  the  Pantheon  which  had  been  so 
violently  dissolved  by  the  Government,  quite  con- 


222  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

traiy  even  to  its  own  law  of  the  constitution  of  the 
year  III.  Amongst  other  things,  he  went  on  to  say 
that  such  meetings  of  democrats  were  composed  of 
malcontents,  who  had  every  kind  of  right  on  their 
side,  and  such  malcontents  were  warm  in  their  love 
of  the  people.  They  were  not  merely  republican, 
but  were  partisans  of  principles  superior  to  the 
system  of  simple  republicanism  ;  in  a  word,  demo- 
crats, or  citizens  who  were  not  satisfied  with  a 
condition  of  semi-welfare  for  the  people,  but  who 
wished  for  them  perfect  rights  and  independence, 
and  would  tolerate  no  restrictions  of  their  liberty ; 
that  these  same  malcontents,  seeing  that  the 
people  were  far  from  enjoying  the  maximum  of 
welfare,  the  plenitude  of  independence  and  liberty 
which  they  believed  to  have  been  the  aim  of  the 
revolution,  fostered  a  serious  desire  and  hope  to 
change  the  Government,  which  they  deemed  anti- 
popular  and  contrary  to  the  general  well-being ; 
that  these  citizens  from  the  first  had  put  together 
and  preserved  for  the  public  benefit  papers  contain- 
ing their  views  and  ideas,  their  projects  and  aims 
on  behalf  of  the  country ;  that  these  papers  had 
been  "svi'ongfully  and  illegally  seized  at  the  time  of 
his  arrest ;  that  they  did  not  belong  to  him  person- 
ally but  to  all  repubhcans,  members  of  that  political 
club. 

He   continued   to    read    extracts   from   several 
numbers  of  Le  Tribuii,  his  correspondence  with 


THE   TRIAL   OF   BABEUF  223 

Germain,  Debon,  and  others,  that  the  prosecutor 
had  endeavered  to  twist  into  evidence  of  an  exist- 
ing conspiracy,  and  to  claim  that  the  jury  could 
not,  on  fair  consideration,  find  that  they  contained 
anything  of  the  sort. 

On  the  fourth  day  he  concluded  the  reading  of 
his  long  statement  with  the  following  peroration  : — 

"If,  notwithstanding,  our  death  is  resolved 
upon ;  if  the  fatal  chime  has  sounded  for  me ; 
if  my  last  hour  is  fixed  at  this  moment  in  the 
book  of  destiny,  I  have  for  long  been  prepared 
for  this  hour.  An  almost  perpetual  victim  from 
the  first  year  of  the  Revolution  of  my  love  for 
the  people ;  identified  with  dungeons ;  familiarised 
with  the  idea  of  torture  and  of  violent  death, 
which  are  almost  always  the  lot  of  revolution- 
aries, what  could  there  be  to  astonish  me  in  this 
event?  For  a  year  past  have  I  not  had  the 
Tarpeian  rock  ever  present  to  me  ?  It  has  nothing 
to  affright  me  !  It  is  beautiful  to  have  one's  name 
inscribed  on  the  column  of  victims  for  the  love  of 
the  people.  I  am  sure  that  mine  will  be  there ! 
Too  happy  art  thou,  Gracchus  Babeuf,  to  perish  for 
the  sake  of  virtue  !  What,  indeed,  all  things  con- 
sidered, is  lacking  to  my  consolation  ?  Can  I  ever 
expect  to  finish  my  career  in  a  nobler  moment  of 
glory  ?  I  shall  have  experienced  before  my  death 
such  sensations  as  have  rarely  accompanied  those 
of  men   who   have   also   sacrificed  themselves  for 


224  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

humanity.  The  power  which  persecuted  them  has 
almost  always  succeeded  in  stifling  for  them  the 
voice  of  truth.  Their  contemporaries,  deceived  or 
terrified  by  tyranny,  have  only  poured  upon  their 
wounds  the  burning  caustics  of  atrocious  calumny 
and  bloody  outrage !  The  thirst  of  their  agony 
has,  for  the  most  part,  been  assuaged  by  foul 
poisons ;  who  knows  if,  even  at  the  sight  of  the 
injustices  of  the  misguided  crowd  and  its  perverse 
seducers,  they  have  not  been  far  from  the  consoling 
foresight,  that  time,  the  avenger,  would  rehabilitate 
their  revered  names,  would  ensure  for  them  the 
worship  of  every  age  and  guarantee  their  rights  to 
immortality  ?  At  least  they  had  to  await  posterity. 
As  for  us,  we  have  been  happier !  The  power, 
strong  enough  to  oppress  so  long,  has  not  been 
strong  enough  to  defame  us.  We  have  seen  truth 
spring  forth  from  every  pen  during  our  lifetime,  to 
register  those  deeds  which  honour  us,  and  which 
will  redound  to  the  eternal  shame  of  our  persecu- 
tors. Even  our  enemies,  at  least  those  who  are 
most  opposed  to  us  in  opinion,  even  their  passionate 
annalists,  all  have  rendered  justice  to  our  virtues. 
How  much  the  more  ought  we  not  to  be  secure  in 
the  thought  that  impartial  history  will  engrave  our 
memory  in  honourable  traits.  I  leave  to  it  written 
monuments,  of  which  each  line  will  witness  that  I 
have  lived  only  for  justice  and  the  welfare  of  the 
people.     Who,  indeed,  are  the  men  among  whom  I 


THE   TRIAL    OF   BABEUF  225 

,m  treated  as  guilty  ?  A  Drouet !  a  Le  Pelletier  ! 
)  !  names  dear  to  the  Republic  !  They  are  then 
ny  accomplices.  Friends  !  you  who  surround  me 
)n  these  benches,  who  are  you  ?  I  know  you ; 
rou  are  well-nigh  all  the  founders,  the  firm 
lustainers,  of  this  Republic.  If  they  condemn  you, 
f  they  condemn  me,  then  indeed  are  we  the  last  of 
Frenchmen,  the  last  of  the  energetic  Republicans, 
rhe  fearful  royalist  Terror  which  has  akeady  so 
ong  crushed  your  brethren,  triumphing  in  your 
■all,  goes  about  everywhere  with  its  poignards,  and 
I  horrible  proscription  mows  down  all  the  friends 
)f  liberty.^  But  is  it  not  better  not  to  be  witnesses 
if  these  last  disasters  ?  Is  it  not  better  not  to  have 
mrvived  slavery,  to  have  died  for  having  sought  to 
lave  preserved  our  fellow-citizens  ?  What  an 
ibundant  source  of  consolation !  Is  it  not  also  a 
source  of  consolation  to  have  been  followed  here 
by  our  children  and  by  our  wives  ?  O  !  vulgar 
prejudices,  you  are  nothing  for  us  !  Our  dear  ones 
have  not  blushed  to  follow  us  to  the  feet  of  our 
judges,  since  the  acts  which  have  conducted  us 
there  cannot  humihate  either  their  brows  or  ours. 
They  will  follow  us  to  the  feet  of  Calvary,  there  to 
receive  our  benedictions  and  our  last  adieux.  But 
oh !  my  children,  these  benches  are  the  only  place 

1  Babeuf  here  refers  to  the  so-called  ''white  Terror,"  the 
massacres  of  "Jacobins"  in  the  south  of  France  by  the  bands 
known  as  "Companies  of  Jesus/'  "Companies  of  the  Sun,"  etc. 

15 


226  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

from  whence  I  can  make  you  hear  my  voice,  since 
they  have  taken  away  from  me,  contrary  to  the 
laws,  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  you.  I  have  only 
one  bitter  regret  to  express  to  you.  It  is  that, 
having  desired  to  the  utmost  to  contribute  to  leave 
you  liberty,  the  source  of  all  good  things,  I  see 
after  me  slavery,  and  I  leave  you  the  prey  of  all 
evils.  I  have  indeed  nothing  to  bequeath  to  you. 
I  would  not  bequeath  to  you  my  civic  virtues,  my 
deep  hatred  of  tyranny,  my  ardent  devotion  to 
equality  and  liberty,  my  intense  love  for  the  people. 
I  should  be  making  you  a  too  cruel  present.  What 
would  you  do  with  it,  under  the  royal  oppression 
that  must  infallibly  establish  itself?  I  leave  you 
slaves,  and  this  thought  is  the  only  one  that  will 
rend  my  soul  in  its  last  moments.  I  ought,  as 
things  are,  to  give  you  advice  on  the  means  of 
supporting  your  fetters  more  patiently,  but  I  feel 
that  I  am  utterly  incapable  of  doing  so." 


CHAPTER  IX 

CONCLUSION    OF    TRIAL   AND    TRAGIC    DEATH 
OF   BABEUF 

The  leader  of  the  accused  having  terminated  his 
lonsf  discourse,  observations  were  addressed  to  the 
Court  by  Buonarroti,  Veillart,  JNIassart,  Bally er, 
Didier,  and  others.  Laflantry,  a  counsel  who  ap- 
peared for  some  of  the  accused,  pleaded  eloquently 
on  behalf  of  Buonarroti,  and  several  of  the  defendants 
made  vain  attempts  to  obtain  a  hearing,  but  were 
cut  short  by  the  President,  who  refused  to  listen 
to  them.  This  brought  the  duration  of  the  trial 
to  the  sixty-sixth  sitting  of  the  High  Court  (3 
Prairial  V. — 23rd  May  1797),  when  the  President 
addressed  the  jury,  stating  that  he  was  about  to 
put  to  them  three  questions  which  would  bring 
the  accused  into  three  categories.  The  text  of 
the  first  question  of  each  series  was  as  follows  : — 

"  I.  Did  there  exist  in  Germinal  and  Floreal 
of  the  year  IV.  a  conspiracy  to  overthrow  the 
government,  and  set  the  citizens  up  in  arms,  one 
against  the  other>? " 

227 


228  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

"II.  Did  there  exist  a  conspiracy  against  the 
legitimate  authority  ? " 

"III.  Did  there  exist  a  conspiracy  to  force  the 
dissolution  of  the  two  Councils  and  of  the  executive 
Directory  ? " 

In  these  were  involved  two  other  uniform 
questions : — 

"1.  Who  of  the  accused  took  part  in  such 
conspiracy  ? " 

"  2.  Did  he  do  so  with  the  intention  of  facilitat- 
ing the  carrying  into  execution  of  its  intentions  ? " 

Reypalade,  the  president  juryman,  criticised 
the  questions,  and  particularly  remarked  as  to  the 
law  of  27  Germinal,  that  it  had  been  voted  and 
created  expressly  to  meet  the  present  case  and 
the  acts  of  accusation  under  consideration.  Veillart, 
in  a  long  speech,  appealed  to  the  jury  to  disregard 
that  law.  He  submitted  that  when  the  jury  were 
convinced  that  an  accused  came  within  only  one 
of  the  chief  questions,  they  ought  to  declare  that 
the  three  must  be  taken  together,  and  not  each  of 
them  as  capital.  One  mil  gather  from  the  above 
the  bias  of  the  Court. 

At  the  following  sitting.  Real,  a  prominent 
member  of  the  bar,  and  one  of  the  principal  defend- 
ing counsel,  argued  with  considerable  eloquence 
against  the  classification  of  these  questions.  He 
submitted  that  if  they  were  based  on  the  law  of 
27  Germinal,  as  Reypalade  had  suggested,  that  the 


CONCLUSION   OF   TRIAL  229 

words  "  mechamment  et  a  dessein"  which  would 
coincide  with  the  EngUsh  terms  maliciouslij,  and 
with  criminal  intent,  must  be  added  to  that  of 
intentionelle,  or  intentionally. 

Veillart  contested  the  prop6sition  of  Real,  and 
insisted  upon  the  conclusions  of  the  day  before, 
and  the  rejection  of  the  suggested  amendments. 
He  was  constantly  interrupted  by  the  dissenting 
murmurs  of  the  accused.  He  was  supported  in 
his  argument  by  his  colleague  Bailly.  The  dis- 
cussions which  then  followed  are  only  of  mediocre 
interest  in  comparison  "vvith  those  of  the  opening 
days. 

The  defence  was  exhausted,  and  the  defendants 
awaited  the  verdict.  As  to  the  prosecution,  it  was 
resumed  in  a  virulent  harangue  launched  by  the 
above-mentioned  Bailly,  one  of  the  national  prose- 
cutors. He  said,  in  effect,  that  the  defendants  were 
accused  of  the  most  heinous  of  crimes  against  the 
very  foundations  of  French  society ;  that  had  they 
succeeded  in  the  objects  of  their  conspiracy,  they 
would  have  overthrown  the  Republic  "  on  a  moun- 
tain of  corpses  covered  with  blood  and  tears."  The 
atrocity  of  their  plans  and  the  extraordinary  wicked- 
ness of  their  designs  made  the  ultimate  success  of 
such  an  abominable  plot  impossible.  France  was 
tired  of  having  revolution  upon  revolution  thrust 
upon  her,  and  so  on.  He  called  also  to  mind  the 
reign  of  Terror,  most  disastrous  to  the  State,  and 


230  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

the  eighteen  months  of  execrable  horrors  that  they 
had  passed  through.  He  said,  "  Robespierre  and 
his  abominable  commune  have  passed  away,  but 
all  the  factions  did  not  go  with  them.  There  ex- 
isted those  who  would  do  away  with  all  authority, 
who  -v^ished  to  have  no  government,  republican  or 
otherwise.  And  among  the  journals  that  agitated 
such  principles  was  notoriously  that  of  Babeuf,  the 
oft-quoted  Trihun  du  Peuple,  which,  he  alleged, 
advocated  absolute  disorganisation,  and  Babeuf,  the 
professed  leader  of  the  faction  of  the  pretended 
'  Equals,'  had  a  preponderance  that  had  astonished 
all  those  who  had  followed  the  evidence  given  during 
the  trial.  This  great  luminary,  Babeuf,  who  was 
their  shining  light  and  the  very  spirit  of  the  move- 
ment, and  who  regarded  himself,  and  was  recognised 
by  his  colleagues,  as  the  only  person  capable  of 
directing  such  stupendous  enterprises,  this  exceed- 
ingly hot  politician  and  ardent  reformer,  now  ap- 
peared ignominiously  before  the  Court  as  a  very  cold 
and  insignificant  person,  posing  as  a  mere  copyist,  a 
servile  follower  of  a  small  coterie  of  philanthropic 
fanatics  who  dreamt  of  ways  to  lead  the  people 
to  pure  democracy." 

In  addition  to  the  above  series  of  questions  put 
to  the  jury  by  the  President  of  the  High  Court, 
others  were  added,  relating  to  alleged  provocations, 
WTitten  and  verbal,  to  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Constitution  of  1793.     This  was  done  through  the 


:;?;»!?*:j5?s5Jf-f;^ 


CONCLUSION    OF   TRIAL  231 

mediation,  and  at  the  request  of  the  foreman  or 
president  of  the  jury,  as  just  mentioned.  In  view 
of  the  circumstances  relating  to  the  constitution  of 
the  Court,  the  violent  speech  above  referred  to  by 
the  prosecutor  Bailly  was  utterly  superfluous,  and 
was  simply  playing  to  the  gallery. 

The  proceeding  of  the  Court  was,  moreover, 
illegal,  as  was  subsequently  recognised  by  the 
criminal  tribunal  of  the  Seine,  which  pronounced 
these  questions  to  have  been  admitted  by  the  high 
court  of  Vendome  in  contravention  of  the  law. 
Buonarroti  states  that  even  the  public  prosecutors 
did  not  attempt  to  defend  this  action  of  the 
Vendome  tribunal  against  the  protests  of  some  of 
the  prisoners,  who  pleaded  that  it  was  a  matter 
suddenly  sprung  upon  the  jury,  upon  which  they 
had  not  been  heard  in  explanation  or  defence. 
But,  not^^dthstanding  this,  the  new  counts  were 
proceeded  with.  The  accused  laid  great  stress, 
moreover,  on  the  form  in  which  the  question 
of  intention  was  laid  before  the  jury.  They 
were  much  concerned,  as  already  stated,  that  the 
adverb  mechamment  (maliciously)  should  be  main- 
tained as  part  of  the  questions  put,  since  they 
specially  challenged  an  examination  of  the  motives 
which  they  contended  would  have  actuated  them 
had  they  been  guilty,  as  the  prosecution  alleged, 
of  the  charge  of  conspiracy,  which  formed  the 
chief  count  in  the  indictment. 


232  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

Some  of  the  jurors,  of  whom  there  were  six- 
teen, supported  the  accused,  urging  legaUty  being 
observed  in  the  interrogatories  administered  to 
them.  But  it  was  in  vain.  The  judges  compos- 
ing the  High  Court  insisted,  as  we  have  seen,  on 
restricting  the  conspiracy-indictment  to  the  for- 
mula— "  Has  the  accused  conspired  or  provoked, 
with  the  intention  of  conspiring  or  provoking  ?  " — 
thus  intentionally  excluding  all  reference  to  moral 
justification  for  the  incriminated  acts.  Only  three 
of  the  sixteen  jurors  were  consistently  favourable 
throughout  to  the  accused.  Notwithstanding  this, 
most  of  the  counts  relating  to  the  conspiracy 
were  met  with  an  acquittal.  It  was  only  on  the 
question  of  provocation,  written  and  verbal,  to  the 
re-establishment  of  the  Constitution  of  1793,  that 
certain  of  the  prisoners,  to  wit,  Babeuf,  Darthe, 
Buonarroti,  Germain,  Cazin,  Moroy,  Blondeau, 
Menessier,  and  Bouin  were  convicted.  Even 
then,  "  extenuating  circumstances  "  were  found  for 
all  except  Babeuf  and  Darthe.  The  Blondeau 
referred  to  had  been  arrested  for  the  share  he 
had  taken  in  attempting  to  corrupt  the  guards  in 
order  to  enable  Babeuf  to  effect  his  escape.  The 
Government  seemed  to  have  used  this  prosecution 
as  a  convenient  means  of  disposing  of  persons  sus- 
pected by  their  agents,  or  otherwise  inconvenient 
to  them.  Thus  among  the  accused  was  a  young 
man  named  Potofeux,  who  had  been  lying  in  gaol 


CONCLUSION   OF   TRIAL  233 

for  twelve  months,  although  absolutely  a  stranger 
to  the  Babouvists  and  their  movement. 

From  the  dawn  of  the  7th  of  Prairial,  year  V.,  the 
beating  of  drums,  the  noise  of  artillery,  and  unusual 
movements  of  troops  announced  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  little  town  of  Vendome  the  tragic  end  of  the 
judicial  drama  to  which  they  had  become  so  long 
accustomed.     The  day  the  prisoners  appeared  for 
the  last  time  before  the  tribunal  the  building  was 
filled  by  a  sad  and  silent  crowd.     On  the  declaration 
of  the  jury   above   given,   which  the  eye-witness 
Buonarroti  tells  us  was  pronounced  ^\dth  a  voice 
betraying    strong   emotion   by   the    foreman,   the 
leading  prosecutor  rose  to  demand  the  penalty  of 
death    for   the    two    principal    prisoners,    namely, 
Babeuf  and    Darthe,    and   transportation   for   the 
others.     One  of  the  counsel  for  the  defence  made 
a  last  desperate  attempt  to  get  the  verdict  quashed 
by  invoking  the  article  in  the  new  Constitution  of 
the  year  III.,  which  declared  that  no  law  affecting 
the  liberty  of  the  press  should  be  vahd  for  longer 
than  one  year  from  the  date  of  its  promulgation. 
Hence  it  was  contended  that  the  law  of  the  27th 
of  Germinal  of  the  year  IV.,  upon  which  the  pro- 
secution  had   based   its   indictment,   being   a  law 
containing  clauses  contravening  the  liberty  of  the 
press,  had  ceased  to  have  effect,  owing  to  its  having 
been  in  existence  for  more  than  a  year.     As  might 
have  been  expected,  the  court  refused  to  consider 


234  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

the  point,  and  proceeded  to  pass  sentence  on  the 
prisoners  in  accordance  with  the  demands  of  the 
prosecution.  Babeuf  and  Darthe  were  sentenced 
to  death,  and  the  remaining  seven  to  deportation  to 
the  French  possessions  in  tropical  America. 

No  sooner  had  sentence  been  pronounced  than 
a  violent  tumult  made  itself  heard.  Babeuf  and 
Darthe  had  stabbed  themselves  with  daggers.  A 
cry  arose,  "  They  are  being  assassinated  ! "  Buonar- 
roti sprang  to  his  feet  and  appealed  to  the  people. 
The  public  in  the  body  of  the  court  made  a  sudden 
movement,  which  was  immediately  suppressed  by 
a  hundred  bayonets  (the  precincts  of  the  tribunal 
were  all  occupied  by  military)  suddenly  appearing 
and  being  levelled  at  the  crowd.  But  Babeuf  and 
Darthe  had  relied  on  clumsy,  self-made  daggers  of 
worthless  metal,  which  broke  before  reaching  the 
hearts  at  which  they  aimed.  ^  The  only  result  of 
their  attempt  w^as  a  night  of  agony  in  their  cells. 
For  the  moment  the  excitement  amongst  the  public 
had  made  itself  apparent ;  and  while  the  soldiers 
were  in  the  act  of  driving  back  those  surrounding  the 
prisoners,  the  gendarmes  rushed  forward,  seized  the 
latter,  and  dragged  them  away  to  their  dungeons, 
threatening  them  the  while  with  their  sabres. 

The  following  day  the  two  wounded  men  were 

1  According  to  another  account,  quoted  by  Fleury  (Babeuf, 
p.  336),  their  hands  were  seized  by  the  gendarmes  guarding 
them  before  they  could  complete  their  purpose. 


TRAGIC   DEATH   OF   BABEUF     235 

carried  to  the  guillotine.  All,  even  their  most 
vehement  political  opponents,  admit  that  both, 
especially  Babeuf,  mounted  the  scaffold  with  a 
splendid  courage  that  never  deserted  them  to  the 
last.  The  two  bodies  were  thrown  by  the  execu- 
tioner and  his  assistants,  according  to  Buonarroti, 
into  the  common  sewer,  but,  according  to  other 
accounts,  were  buried  superficially  in  a  plot  of 
land  not  far  off.  In  any  case  they  were  exhumed 
shortly  after  by  their  admirers,  and  reverently 
interred  in  a  field  belonging  to  one  of  the 
neighbouring  peasants.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
little  town  of  Vendome  seem  to  have  deeply 
sympathised  with  these  victims  of  counter-revolu- 
tion. Buonarroti  assures  us  that  a  deep  gloom 
overhung  the  town  the  day  of  the  execution — 
a  "  general  mourning "  is  his  expression. 

During  his  last  painful  night,  Babeuf  manned  him- 
self to  what  must  have  been  the  terrible  ordeal  of 
inditing  the  following  touching  letter  to  his  wife 
and  family: — "Good  evening,  my  friends.  I  am 
about  to  be  enveloped  in  eternal  night.  I  have 
better  expressed  to  the  friend  [viz.  Le  Pelletier],  to 
whom  I  addressed  the  two  letters  you  have  seen, 
my  situation  as  regards  you  than  I  can  do  to 
yourselves.  It  seems  to  me  that  I  feel  nothing  in 
order  to  feel  too  much.  I  leave  your  lot  in  his 
hands.  Alas !  I  know  not  if  you  mil  find  him 
able  to  do  that  which   I   have  asked  of  him.     I 


236  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

know  not  how  you  will  be  able  to  reach  him. 
Your  love  for  me  has  brought  you  hither  in  spite 
of  all  the  obstacles  of  our  misery.  You  have 
supported  yourself  here  in  the  midst  of  obstacles 
and  privations.  Your  constancy  has  made  you 
follow  all  the  proceedings  of  this  long,  cruel  trial, 
of  which,  like  myself,  you  have  drunk  the  bitter 
cup.  But  I  do  not  know  how  my  memory  will  be 
judged,  notwithstanding  that  I  believe  I  have 
conducted  myself  in  a  manner  without  reproach. 
Lastly,  I  am  ignorant  of  what  will  become  of  all 
the  republicans,  their  families,  and  even  their 
infants  at  the  breast,  in  the  midst  of  the  royahst 
madness  which  the  counter-revolution  will  bring 
with  it.  Oh  !  my  friends,  how  agonising  are  these 
reflections  in  my  last  moments !  To  die  for  the 
country,  to  leave  my  family,  my  children,  my  dear 
wife,  would  be  more  supportable  did  I  not  see  at 
the  end  of  all,  Hberty  lost,  and  all  that  belongs  to 
sincere  republicans  covered  by  the  most  horrible 
proscription  !  Oh  !  my  tender  children,  what  will 
you  become  ?  I  cannot  struggle  against  the 
strongest  emotion  on  your  account.  Do  not 
believe,  nevertheless,  that  I  feel  regret  at  having 
sacrificed  myself  for  the  best  of  all  causes,  even 
though  all  my  efforts  should  be  useless  to  save  it. 
I  have  fulfilled  my  task.  If  you  should  survive 
the  terrible  storm  that  now  bursts  over  the  Republic 
and  over  all  that  is  attached  to  it ;  if  you  should 


TRAGIC    DEATH   OF   BABEUF      237 

ind  yourself  once  more  in  a  situation  of  tranquillity, 
md  should  secure  some  friends  who  would  aid  you 
:o  triumph  over  your  bad  fortime,  I  would  urge 
^ou  to  li\'e  in  union  together  ;  I  would  urge  my 
tvife  to  try  and  bring  up  her  children  in  all  gentle- 
less,  and  I  would  urge  my  children  to  merit  the 
goodness  of  their  mother  by  respecting  her  and 
ilways  submitting  themselves  to  her.  It  belongs 
to  the  family  of  the  martyr  of  liberty  to  give  an 
example  of  all  the  virtues  in  order  to  win  the 
esteem  and  attachment  of  all  good  men.  I  would 
desire  that  my  wife  should  do  all  that  is  possible  to 
give  an  education  to  her  children,  while  entreat- 
ing all  her  friends  to  aid  her  to  the  utmost  of 
their  power  in  this  object.  I  beg  Emile  to  pay 
attention  to  this  wish  of  a  father  whom  I  believe 
he  loves  well,  and  by  whom  he  was  so  much 
beloved ;  I  beg  him  to  pay  attention  to  it  without 
loss  of  time,  and  as  soon  as  he  is  able. 

"  INly  friends,  I  hope  you  will  remember  me  and 
will  often  speak  of  me.  I  hope  that  you  will 
believe  I  have  loved  you  all  very  much.  I  could 
conceive  of  no  other  way  of  rendering  you  happy 
than  through  the  common  welfare.  I  have  failed  ; 
I  am  sacrificed ;  it  is  for  you  also  I  die.  Speak 
much  of  me  to  Camille.  Tell  him  again  and  again 
a  thousand  times  how  tenderly  I  have  always  borne 
him  in  my  heart.  Say  the  same  to  Caius  as  soon 
as  he  is  capable  of  understanding  it. 


238  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

"  Lebois  has  announced  that  he  will  print 
separately  our  defences.  He  should  give  as  much 
publicity  as  possible  to  mine.  I  ad\-ise  my  wife, 
as  my  dearest  friend,  not  to  hand  over  to  Baudouin, 
nor  to  Lebois,  nor  to  others,  any  copy  of  my  defence 
without  keeping  another  correct  copy  by  her,  in 
order  to  make  sure  that  this  defence  will  never  be 
lost.  You  will  know,  my  dear  friend,  that  this 
defence  is  precious,  that  it  will  be  always  dear  to 
virtuous  hearts  and  to  the  friends  of  their  country. 
The  only  legacy  which  will  remain  to  you  from  me 
will  be  my  reputation.  And  I  am  sure  that  the 
enjoyment  of  it  wdll  console  greatly  both  you  and 
your  children.  You  will  love  to  hear  all  sympa- 
thetic and  just  hearts  say,  when  speaking  of  your 
husband,  your  father,  '  he  was  perfectly  virtuous." 

"  Adieu !  I  am  bound  to  the  earth  by  but  a 
thread,  that  to-morrow  will  break.  That  is  certain. 
The  sacrifice  has  to  be  made.  The  wicked  are  the 
stronger,  and  I  give  way  to  them.  It  is  at  least 
sweet  to  die  with  a  conscience  as  pure  as  mine. 
What  is  cruel,  what  is  agonising,  is  to  be  torn  from 
your  arms,  oh !  my  tender  friends,  oh  !  all  that  is 
most  dear  to  me  ! ! !  I  tear  myself  away ;  the 
\4olence  is  done.  Adieu !  adieu !  adieu !  ten 
millions  of  times  adieu  ! 

"  Yet  one  word  more.  Write  to  my  mother  and 
my  sisters.  Send  them,  by  diligence  or  otherwise, 
my  defence,  as   soon  as  it  is  printed.     Tell  them 


TRAGIC    DEATH    OF   BABEUF      239 

that  I  am  dead,  and  try  to  make  these  worthy 
people  understand  that  such  a  death  is  glorious, 
and  far  from  being  dishonourable. 

"  Adieu  then,  once  more,  my  dearest  ones,  my 
tender  friends,  adieu  for  ever !  I  wrscp  myself  in 
the  bosom  of  a  virtuous  slumber." 

Fifty-six  of  the  accused  were  acquitted.  Among 
these  was  Vadier,  the  late  jNIountainist  member  of 
the  Convention,  and  president  of  the  Committee 
of  General  Security  during  the  Terror.  He  was 
naturally  an  object  of  special  hatred  to  the  Reaction  ; 
and  although  he  was  residing  in  Toulouse  at  the 
time  of  the  Babeuf  conspiracy  in  Paris,  and  had  no 
connection  whatever  with  the  movement,  the 
opportunity  was  too  good  to  be  let  slip  by  his 
enemies,  so  the  unfortunate  old  man  was  dragged 
from  Toulouse  to  the  capital,  and  thence  to 
Vendome,  to  stand  his  trial  before  the  special  high 
court  for  a  matter  of  which  he  knew  nothing. 
But  that  was  not  all.  So  incensed  were  the 
authorities  against  him  that  he  was  not  allowed  to 
speak  even  in  his  own  defence.  Notwithstanding 
this,  the  evidence  against  him  being  practically  nil, 
the  jury  acquitted  him  without  hesitation.  Nettled 
by  this  failure,  and  not  to  be  baulked  of  their  prey, 
the  court  ordered  him  to  be  kept  in  arrest  on  the 
strength  of  an  alleged  decree  of  the  Convention 
for  the  deportation  of  certain  members  of  the 
Mountain,  which  had  since  been  rescinded.      He 


240  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

remained  in  prison  till  the  Coup  d'Etat  of  the  18th 
of  Brumaire. 

The  five  prisoners  who  Avere  convicted  of  partici- 
pation in  the  attempt  to  re-establish  the  Constitution 
of  '93,  but  were  given  the  benefit  of  extenuating 
circumstances,  were  shortly  after  their  conviction 
interned,  together  with  the  acquitted  Vadier,  in 
the  fortress  on  the  island  of  Pelee,  situated  at  the 
entrance  to  the  harbour  of  Cherbourg.  The  whole 
of  the  way  thither  they  were  kept  chained  and 
confined  in  iron  cages,  exposed  in  many  cases  to 
the  insults  and  threats  of  reactionary  crowds,  though 
towns  were  not  wanting  through  which  they  passed 
where  they  were  received  with  the  most  friendly 
greetings.  At  Saint  Lo,  for  example,  the  mayor, 
at  the  head  of  the  municipal  council,  received  them 
with  every  cordiality  as  "  our  unfortunate  brothers." 
In  a  speech,  he  declared  them  to  have  defended  the 
rights  of  the  people  in  a  manner  for  which  every 
good  citizen  owed  them  gratitude  and  love. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  follow  the  career  of 
some  of  the  actors  in  the  events  we  have  been 
describing.  Real,  the  chief  counsel  for  the  defence 
in  the  Vendome  trial,  whose  zeal  and  energy  in  the 
performance  of  his  duties  on  this  occasion  are  not 
to  be  gainsaid — notwithstanding  that  Babeuf,  more 
anxious  to  affirm  his  principles  than  to  get  off"  by 
the  denial  of  the  truth,  or  even  on  technical  grounds, 
was  certainly  a  difficult  client  to  deal  vrith  from  the 


TRAGIC   DEATH   OF   BABEUF      241 

advocate's  point  of  view — this  same  Real  became, 
under  the  Empire,  Prefect  of  Pohce,  then  Councillor 
of  State,  and  finally  Count.  Germain  died  in  1830, 
a  prosperous  agriculturalist,  having  long  deserted 
the  fields  of  politics.  Drouet,  the  postmaster  of  St 
JNIenehould,  and  strenuous  member  of  the  JVIountain 
in  the  Convention,  also  took  service  under  the 
the  Napoleonic  regime,  when  he  became  sub-prefect, 
after  having  fii'st  been  decorated  with  the  Legion 
of  Honour.  The  IMarquis  d'Antonelle,  the  col- 
league of  Drouet  on  the  Mountain,  and  a  fellow- 
participator  with  the  other  Montagnards  in  the 
conspiracy  of  the  Equals,  appears,  after  some  years 
of  obscurity,  after  the  Restoration,  as  a  strong 
partisan  of  the  resuscitated  Bourbons.  Vadier  died 
in  honourable  consistency  in  exile  during  the 
Restoration  period.  The  time  and  place  of  the 
death  of  his  colleague  on  the  Committee  of  General 
Security,  Amar,  remain  in  some  doubt.  Felix 
Le  Pellet ier,  who  succeeded  in  escaping  imprison- 
ment or  transportation,  was  probably  the  wealthiest 
man  in  the  movement,  and  nobly  fulfilled  his  obli- 
gations towards  the  children  of  his  dead  friend. 
Emile  he  adopted,  while  he  saw  towards  the 
placing  of  the  two  younger  brothers,  Camille 
and  Caius,  with  an  old  friend  of  his,  a  former 
member  of  the  Convention. 

Subsequently,  after  he  was   grown   up,   Emile 
joined  the  Spanish  patriots  in  their  struggle  for 


242  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

independence.  Happening  to  hear,  while  in 
Spain,  that  Grisel,  the  traitor,  who  had  dehvered 
over  his  father  to  death  and  his  father's  friends 
to  imprisonment  and  exile,  was  also  there,  he 
sought  him  out  and  challenged  him  to  a  duel. 
The  duel  was  one  to  the  death.  Emile  Babeuf 
fought  with  a  reckless  bravery  and  fury.  Finally 
he  struck  Grisel  a  mortal  blow,  but  not  before 
he  himself  had  received  a  dangerous  wound  in 
the  chest.  This,  however,  was  nothing  to  him. 
He  had  executed  vengeance  on  the  traitor. 
He  subsequently  became  a  bookseller  in  Lyons, 
where,  however,  he  failed.  Returning  to  Paris, 
he  started  a  journal  called  the  Nain  Jaune,  of 
strong  Jacobin  tendencies.  But  this  also  came  to 
an  untimely  end,  being  seized  by  the  police  and 
suppressed.  He  tried  bookselling  again  in  Paris, 
but  this  time  also  with  disastrous  financial  results. 
He  then  seems  to  have  joined  the  imperial  cause, 
and  to  have  associated  his  fortunes  with  those  of 
Napoleon  the  First.  After  the  fall  of  the  empire 
he  emigrated  to  America,  where  he  died  in  the 
early  twenties  of  the  last  century.  His  brother 
Caius  was  killed  in  battle  during  the  first  inva- 
sion of  French  territory  in  1814,  while  his  other 
brother  Camille  committed  suicide  from  the 
column  Vendome  in  the  following  year,  1815,  at 
the  sight  of  the  Cossacks  entering  Paris. 

Emile  Babeuf,  it  may  be  noted,  had   one   son, 


TRAGIC    DEATH    OF   BABEUF      243 

Louis  Pierre  Babeuf,  who  occupied  various  official 
posts,  having  been  sub-prefect  in  1848,  inspector 
of  insurances,  etc.  He  died  in  Paris,  20th  February 
1871,  at  the  age  of  sixty- two.  With  the  death  of 
this  solitary  grandchild  of  Gracchus  Babeuf  the 
name  itself  became  extinct. 

The  appreciation  of  his  father  from  the  pen  of 
Emile  Babeuf,  discovered  among  his  papers  by 
M.  Victor  Advielle,  and  reproduced  by  him  in  his 
Histoire  de  Gracchus  Babeuf  et  du  Babouvisme 
(vol.  i.  pp.  344-5)  may  be  of  interest : — 

"  As  to  the  conduct  of  my  father,  this  belongs 
to  history ;  and  the  facts,  however  we  may  regard 
them,  prove  nothing  against  his  heart.  He  may 
have  erred  in  his  actions,  but  his  conscience  was 
never  compromised.  I  will  go  farther  and  venture 
the  assurance  that  he  always  had  pure  and  dis- 
interested intentions,  that  he  only  valued  life  in 
so  far  as  he  believed  it  useful  to  his  country,  and 
that  he  perished,  a  victim  of  his  opinions,  with 
the  same  fervour  that  the  saints  walked  to  their 
martyrdom.  I  have  only  one  trait  to  cite  that 
cannot  be  made  public,  but  which  will  decide  your 
opinion.  Long  persecutions  by  private  enemies 
caused  my  father  to  languish  in  prison  till  the 
9th  Thermidor.  He  cleared  himself  completely 
of  an  accusation  of  forgery,  and  was  given  back 
to  society.  But  his  fortune  having  been  reduced 
to  nothing,  in  order  to  obtain  food  for  our  little 


244  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

family  we  were  obliged  to  sell  part  of  our  furniture, 
for  at  that  time  famine  reigned  in  Paris.  My 
father  was  then  again  thrown  into  prison.  The 
13th  of  Vendemiaire  liberated  him  again,  and  he 
continued  his  journal,  entitled  the  Tribun  du 
Peuple.  The  government  then  deputed  a  man  to 
go  and  see  him,  whose  merits  would  be  sufficiently 
proved  did  I  but  mention  his  name,  in  order 
to  persuade  him,  hke  Freron,  to  exchange  his 
character,  his  conscience,  his  pen,  for  the  ministry 
of  finance !  My  father  was  revolted  at  the  pro- 
posal and  broke  with  the  negotiation.  No  person 
has  hitherto  related  the  fact  that  at  the  time  of 
the  entry  of  the  Prussians  into  the  plains  of 
Champagne,  my  father,  sent  as  commissioner  of 
the  department  of  the  Somme  to  Peronne  to  see 
to  the  fortification  of  the  place,  defeated  a  con- 
spiracy there,  which  aimed  at  nothing  less  than 
delivering  the  place  over  to  the  enemy.  He  had 
the  guilty  arrested,  and  saved  the  town  from  being 
surprised  the  following  night  by  an  advanced 
guard  of  the  Prussian  army.  Finally,  no  one  has 
told  how  Paris,  notwithstanding  neglect  and  the 
^laximum,  owed  its  subsistence  during  eighteen 
months  to  the  unremitting  energies  of  the  general 
secretary  of  the  Administration  of  Subsistence, 
Babeuf,  who  passed  nearly  all  his  nights  in  working 
and  in  distributing  their  respective  tasks  to  twenty- 
four  employes." 


TRAGIC   DEATH    OF   BABEUF     245 

We  have  no  means  of  testing  the  truth  of 
the  statements  contained  in  the  foregoing  notice, 
with  the  exception  of  that  respecting  his  work 
at  the  victuaUing  commission  in  Paris,  the  con- 
scientious thoroughness  of  which  is  otherwise 
confirmed.  More  especially,  as  regards  the  alleged 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  corrupt 
Babeuf  by  means  of  its  mysterious  emissary,  we 
are  left  utterly  in  the  dark,  even  by  Emile  himself, 
as  to  the  nature  of  the  position  alleged  to  have 
been  offered  his  father  in  the  ministry  of  finance. 
But  the  notice,  so  far  as  ifcmile  is  concerned, 
certainly  tends  to  confirm,  what  we  gather  from 
other  indications  in  his  career,  namely,  that  with 
all  his  political  worthlessness  and  general  insta- 
bility of  character,  Emile  Babeuf  always  retained 
an  affectionate  regard  for  the  memory  of  his 
father.  In  view  of  this  fact,  we  would  willingly 
believe  that  his  turning  his  back  on  the  principles 
in  which  he  had  been  brought  up,  and  which  he 
himself  so  ardently  championed  earlier  in  his  life, 
in  order  to  cringe  before  the  "Corsican  adventurer," 
was  due  to  this  weakness  of  character,  acted  on  by 
stress  of  private  circumstances,  rather  than  to  any 
intrinsic  moral  baseness. 


CONCLUSION 

The  movement  of  Babeuf  for  resuscitating  the 
Revolutionary  Government  on  an  economic  basis 
of  a  Socialist  character  was  a  failure,  and,  like  all 
failures,  like  all  movements  that  are  suppressed 
with  real  success,  or  that,  to  speak  in  expressive 
slang,  "  peter  out,"  leaving  but  slight  direct  traces 
behind  them,  has  tended  with  the  lapse  of  years 
to  pass  into  historical  oblivion.  Comparatively 
few  men  of  average  education  in  the  present  day 
have  ever  heard  of  Babeuf.  For  the  great  world, 
as  above  said,  he  left  nothing  behind  him,  scarcely 
even  a  memory,  except  for  the  few  interested  in 
the  byways  and  cul-de-sacs  of  history,  and  who 
honour  single-minded  devotion  to  the  popular 
cause,  even  when  it  has  been  without  result. 

Of  the  absolute  sincerity,  earnestness,  and  courage 
of  the  protagonist  of  the  Equals  there  can  be  no 
sort  of  doubt  with  anyone  who  has  studied  the 
history  of  Babeuf  and  his  ill-starred  movement. 
Of  his  grasp  of  the  situation,  and  of  his  intellectual 
capacity  as  the  leader  of  a  party  of  wide-reaching 

246 


CONCLUSION  247 

revolutionary  aims,  as  much  cannot  be  said.  With 
all  our  admiration  of  Babeuf  s  energy  and  heroism 
as  a  revolutionary  figure,  it  is  impossible  to  avoid 
the  conclusion  that  he  was  intellectually  unstable. 
The  correspondence  with  Dubois  de  Fosseux  and 
others  in  his  early  days  already  indicated  that.  We 
fail  to  find,  moreover,  much  trace  (though  w^e  do 
some)  of  real  originahty  in  the  doctrines,  into  the 
attempted  realisation  of  w^hich  Babeuf  threw  such 
unsurpassed  energy  and  self-devotion.  They  are 
mainly  discoverable  in  other  writers  of  eighteenth- 
century  France,  notably  in  INIorelly,  in  JNIably, 
and  even  in  Rousseau.  Babeuf  himself  admitted 
this,   protesting  that   his  trial  was   an  attack  on 

--^he  hberty  of  the  press,   and  that   he   was  being 
prosecuted  for  professing  doctrines  that  had  had 

^^the    support    of   Rousseau,    of  JNIably,    and — true 
eighteenth- century  touch — of  Lycurgus  ! 

His  instability  of  mind  is  crucially  exhibited 
in  the  complete  volte  face  he  made  as  regards 
the  question  of  Robespierre  and  Thermidor.  In 
his  Journal  de  la  Uberte  de  la  pi'esse,  notably 
in  the  earlier  numbers,  we  are  confronted  with 
measureless  denunciations  of  Robespierre  and  the 
Terror,  for  which  he  was  held  responsible.  In 
a  short  time,  as  we  have  seen  in  an  earlier 
chapter  of  the  present  work,  this  uncompromis- 
ing attitude  became  modified  in  the  sense  of 
recognising   two   Robespierres, — Robespierre,    the 


248  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

tyrant  of  the  latter  days  of  the  Terror ;  and  Robes- 
pierre of  earher  days,  the  sincere  apostle  of  Equality 
and  the  Revolution.     But  the  matter  did  not  rest 
here.     Before  the  end  of  his  political  career,  Babeuf 
had  come  to  idolise  the  late  dictator  as  something 
like  a  heaven-sent  Messiah  of  the  new  era  of  revolu- 
tionary social  construction.     So  far  did  he  go   in 
this,  that  in  a  copy  of  a  letter  addressed  to  Joseph 
Bodson  (?  Dobson),  who   appears  to  have  been  a 
Hebertist,    found    among    the    papers    seized    in 
Babeuf 's  house,  we   find   the  declaration  that  the 
Babouvists  were  but  the  "  second  Gracchi "  of  the 
French  Revolution,  the  first  being  Robespierre  and 
his  followers.     Defending  Robespierre  against  the 
attacks  of  his  correspondent,    "  Let  us   give   him 
back,"  says  he,  "  his  first  legitimate  glory,  and  all 
his   disciples    would   arise    anew   and   soon  would 
triumph.     Robespierrism  overthrows  anew  all  the 
factions ;  Robespierrism  does  not  resemble  any  of 
them,  it  is  neither  artificial  nor  limited.     Hebertism 
exists  only  in  Paris  and  among  a  small  section  of 
men,  and  can   only  sustain   itself  with  difficulty. 
Robespierrism  exists  throughout  the  Republic  in 
the  whole  class  of  the  judicial  and  clear-sighted, 
and,  of  course,  among  all  the  people.     The  reason 
is  simple :  it  is  that  Robespierrism  is  Democracy, 
and   that   the  two  words   are   identical.       Hence, 
in   resuscitating   Robespierrism    you    are    sure   to 
resuscitate  democracy." 


CONCLUSION  249 

One  cannot  but  regret  to  find  a  man  like  Babeuf 
singing  the  praises   of  the  author  of  the  law  of 
Prairial,  and  the  judicial  murderer  of  Anacharsis 
Clootz   and   of  Chaumette,    not   to    speak   of  his 
former    friends    and    colleagues    the    Dantonists. 
Babeufs    correspondent    replied,    warning   him   of 
the  danger  of  his  hero  worship  as  likely  to  pre- 
judice his  own  movement,  in  view  of  the  name 
Robespierre  had   left   behind   in   connection  with 
the  Terror,  while   at   the  same   time  repudiating 
any  blind  partisanship  with  the  party  of  Hebert. 
It   is  indeed  by   no   means   improbable    that   the 
injudicious  utterances  of  Babeuf  and  his  exaltation 
of  Robespierre  and  the  Terror  did  ahenate  from  his 
movement  many  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Paris 
populace,  who,  although  strong  in  their  revolution- 
ary principles  and  zealous  for  the  Constitution  of 
'93,  had  no  wish  for  a  return  to  the  pre-Thermi- 
dorean  revolutionary  government,  with  its  Terror 
"  the  order  of  the  day."     Certainly,  before  and  after 
the   trial   the    Directorial    government    used   the 
bogey  of  a  return  of  the  Terror  to  prejudice  the 
movement   of  the    Babouvists,    and    not    without 
success  among  all  classes  of  the  population. 

It  was,  moreover,  not  true  that  the  distinctive 
feature  in  the  doctrine  of  Babeuf,  its  communistic 
character,  was  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  writings 
and  speeches  of  Robespierre  and  his  partisans. 
Robespierre,  St  Just,  and  the   rest   were  jealous 


250  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

upholders  of  the  rights  of  private  property.  Their 
ideal  was  a  Republic  of  the  small  middle-class, 
with  the  citizens  possessed  each  of  moderate  means, 
sober,  frugal,  laborious,  misery  and  want  unknown, 
and  an  accumulation  of  wealth  beyond  a  certain 
limit  discouraged.  This  was  the  Rousseauite  ideal 
of  the  period.  Thus,  though  not  possessed  of  a  high 
originality,  Babeuf  certainly  does  himself  injustice 
in  professing  to  regard  himself  as  a  mere  follower 
of  Robespierre  or  any  other  of  the  earlier  leaders. 
Probably  the  Hebertists  approached,  at  least  in 
spirit,  as  nearly  the  standpoint  of  Babeuf  as  any  of 
his  predecessors,  but  even  they  did  not  distinctly 
formulate  any  communistic  proposals ;  while  Hebert 
himself,  when  on  one  occasion  taunted  by  Robes- 
pierre, at  the  Jacobin  Club,  as  to  heresies  on  the 
subject  of  private  property,  the  inviolability  of 
which  formed  one  of  the  points  in  the  Declaration 
of  the  Rights  of  Man,  expressly  repudiated  any 
such. 

The  common  Rousseauite  atmosphere  of  thought 
and  phraseology,  with  denunciations  of  a  society 
admitting  the  extremes  of  excessive  wealth  and 
indigence,  are  to  be  found  in  all  the  men  of  that 
time,  in  Babeuf  no  less  than  in  the  rest.  But, 
as  already  said,  the  remedy  proposed  by  Babeuf 
— the  notion  that  only  the  abolition  of  the  insti- 
tution of  private  property  itself  could  cure  the 
evils   of  society   and   prevent   their   return  —  was 


CONCLUSION  251 

certainly,  as  a  practical  proposal  entering  the 
iomain  of  current  politics,  peculiar  to  Babeuf. 
rhat  the  communistic  idea  itself  was  not  original 
i\'ith  Babeuf  we  have  already  shown  in  an  earlier 
:hapter  of  the  present  work.  He  undoubtedly 
ierived  it  from  the  writings  of  Mably  and  ]\Iorelly. 
What  was  original  in  Babeuf  was  his  attempt  to 
place  it  as  the  immediate  goal  of  the  society  of 
[lis  time,  to  be  directly  realised  by  political  methods. 
Babeuf  was  the  first  to  conceive  of  Communism 
n  any  shape  as  a  politically  realisable  ideal  in  the 
immediate  or  near  future. 

Before  Babeuf  there  were  not  wanting  indications 
Df  what  might  be  termed  a  SociaUst  tendency  in 
individual  revolutionists,  notwithstanding  the  Con- 
vention, as  a  whole,  on  the  first  day  of  its  assembly, 
had  passed  a  resolution  repudiating  such  tendencies, 
and  decreeing  the  sacredness  of  private  property. 
These  tendencies  were  always  sporadic  in  character, 
but  are  interesting  for  what  they  are  worth. 
Curiously  enough,  it  was  the  Girondin,  Babaut  St 
Etienne.  ^^ith  whom  some  of  the  strongest  expres- 
sions of  opinion  in  this  sense  are  to  be  found. 
Thus,  in  the  Chronique  de  Paris  of  January  19th, 
1793,  he  demands  what  he  terms  a  supplement  to 
the  political  revolution.  "  With  the  establishment 
of  political  equality,"'  he  observes,  "  the  poor  soon 
become  sensible  that  the  inequality  of  fortune 
vitiates  equaUty ;  and  inasmuch  as  equality  means 


252  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

independence,  they  wax  bitter  and  indignant 
against  those  on  whom  they  have  to  depend  for 
their  needs.  They  demand  equaUty  of  fortune,  but 
it  is  seldom  that  the  rich  are  readily  disposed  to 
recognise  the  justice  of  this  claim.  Hence  it  must 
be  obtained  either  by  force  or  by  law."  After 
expressing  the  fear  that  force  might  tend  to  produce 
a  new  inequality,  he  proceeds  to  insist  on  the 
necessity  of  laws  to  effect  the  more  equal  division 
of  property ;  and  not  only  so,  but  to  maintain  this 
greater  equality  of  wealth  when  once  effected,  and 
to  prevent  the  old  inequality  from  reasserting  itself. 
He  goes  on  to  talk,  in  the  Rousseauite  fashion  of 
the  time,  of  education  in  sobriety,  modesty,  and 
temperance  by  means  of  "  moral  institutions," 
among  which  "institutions"  he  instances  civic  feasts, 
in  which  all  Frenchmen  should  mingle  together, 
irrespective  of  wealth  or  status.  He  advocates  the 
enactment  of  laws  limiting  the  amount  of  fortune 
a  man  may  possess ;  and  ordaining  that  once  this 
maximum  is  exceeded,  society  shall  step  in  and 
take  possession  of  all  that  is  above  it. 

The  article  in  question,  as  might  be  expected,  did 
not  pass  without  adverse  criticism,  but  Rabaut  stuck 
to  his  guns,  and  a  few  days  later  replied,  reaffirming 
his  position.  Society,  he  insists,  in  according  its 
protection  to  the  individual,  has  a  right,  in  the  last 
resort,  of  disposing  of  the  goods  of  the  individual. 
We  need  scarcely  say  that  these  views  of  Rabaut 


CONCLUSION  253 

St  Etienne  did  not  meet   with  any  sympathy  on 
the  part  of  his  colleagues  of  the  Girondin  party. 

While  Rabaut  St  Etienne  was  promulgating  the 
above  views,  an  obscure  journalist  and  popular  orator 
aamed  Varlet  was  also  demanding,  while  admitting 
the  sacredness  of  private  property  so  long  as  not 
abused  to  the  detriment  of  society,  the  confiscation 
by  the  State  of  all  wealth  acquired  by  monopoly, 
the  rigging  of  markets,  or  dishonest  speculation. 
Marat,  as  we  all  know,  wrote  in  a  similar  sense 
regarding  the  facts  of  destitution,  as  absolving  the 
destitute  from  all  obligations  to  the  society  which 
admitted  of  it.  His  celebrated  articles  against  the 
5'orestallers  were  an  application  of  this  line  of 
:hought.  In  Marat's  "s\Titings,  in  fact,  there  are 
iistinct  indications  of  attempts  at  constructive 
egislative  schemes  implying  far-reaching  economic 
changes,  but  they  remain  merely  hints.  Hebert, 
igain,  is  strong  on  the  right  of  the  people  to  make 
:he  "  wealthy  swine,  who  wax  fat  on  the  blood 
)f  the  poor,  to  disgorge  "  ;  on  the  duty  of  the  State 
;o  confiscate,  presumably  for  redistribution  among 
;he  indigent,  of  excessive  wealth,  which,  as  he 
naintains,  cannot  be  acquired  by  honest  means — 
vealth  that  only  conduced  to  "needless  luxury, 
vorthless  display,  riding  in  carriages,"  etc.  But, 
vhile  urging  this,  he  none  the  less  insists  that  the 
lotion  of  perfect  equality  of  fortune  is  a  chimera. 
[n  Hebert  no  more  than  in  the  rest  do  we  find 


254  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

communism  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word.  The 
nationahsation,  with  a  view  to  subsequent  division, 
of  the  property  of  the  clergy  and  emigrant  nobles, 
had  familiarised  the  people's  minds  generally  with 
the  idea  of  confiscation,  and  had  correspondingly 
weakened  the  sentiment  of  the  absoluteness  of  the 
rights  of  property  as  such. 

But  with  all  this,  we  look  in  vain  for  any  definite 
socialist  or  communist  formulation  of  policy.  The 
utmost  we  find  in  these  revolutionary  writers  is  the 
notion  of  the  dividing  up  of  the  land  (an  agrarian 
law),  and  possibly  of  the  products  of  consumption, 
and  this  most  of  them  rejected  as  impracticable  and 
Utopian.  The  prevailing  state  of  industry  and  the 
economic  conditions  generally  of  the  eighteenth 
century  were  not  yet  sufficiently  advanced  for  the 
idea  of  the  common  ownership  and  co-operative 
working,  in  the  common  interest,  of  the  means  of 
production,  to  take  definite  shape. 

Hence  the  average  mind  of  the  eighteenth 
century  could  never  get  beyond  the  notion,  as 
regards  social  reconstruction,  of  the  repartition  of 
the  land  and  of  the  products  of  industry,  as  being 
the  starting-point  and  the  central  principle  of  all 
such  reconstruction. 

Babeuf  himself  did  not  see  so  much  beyond 
his  contemporaries  in  this  matter,  but,  at  all 
events,  he  proclaimed  communism  as  the  essential 
of  social  regeneration,  and  he  had  some  idea  of 


CONCLUSION  255 

the  organisation  of  productive  labour  in  common. 
As  with  the  rest,  he  regarded  the  means  towards 
the  regeneration  of  human  nature  to  consist,  in 
the  main,  in  a  system  of  education.  This  system 
of  educational  direction  was  to  continue  through- 
out life.  To  quote  the  words  of  a  manifesto 
by  Babeuf s  Insurrectionary  Committee :  "In  the 
social  order  conceived  by  the  committee,  the  country 
{i.e.  the  State)  shall  seize  upon  the  new-born 
individual,  never  to  leave  him  till  his  death.  It 
shall  watch  over  his  first  moments,  shall  assure 
the  milk  and  the  care  of  her  who  gave  him  birth, 
shall  guard  him  from  all  that  might  injure  his 
health  and  enervate  his  body,  shall  shield  him  from 
a  false  tenderness,  and  shall  take  him,  by  the  hand 
of  his  mother,  to  the  national  home  {maison 
nationale),  where  he  shall  acquire  virtue  and  the 
illumination  necessary  to  a  true  citizen." 

The  ideal  life  of  the  individual  appears  to  Babeuf, 
as  to  others  of  his  contemporaries,  to  involve  to  a 
large  extent  severity  and  frugality  of  living — always 
the  ideal  of  the  peasant  and  the  small  independent 
craftsman.  All  is  to  be  excluded  that  is  not 
necessary  to  republican  virtue ;  "  a  rustic  simpli- 
city "  should  take  the  place  of  elegance  of  furniture 
and  of  garments.  In  short,  Babeuf  s  scheme  bears 
upon  it  the  unmistakable  impress  of  his  day  and 
generation.  As  before  said,  what  distinguishes 
Babeuf  from  his  revolutionary  predecessors  is  his 


256  GRACCHUS   BABEUF 

placing  communism,  involving  the  definite  abolition 
of  the  institution  of  private  property,  in  the  fore- 
front of  his  doctrine,  in  the  more  definite  character 
of  the  latter,  and  in  his  bold  idea  of  its  prompt 
realisation  by  political  means,  through  a  committee 
of  select  persons  placed  in  power  by  the  people's 
will  as  the  issue  of  a  popular  insurrection.  In 
illustration  of  this  may  be  quoted  a  passage  from 
the  manifesto  of  the  Equals  relative  to  the  agrarian 
law,  by  which  was  understood  partition  of  the 
soil  among  the  peasant  cultivators,  and  which  was 
regarded  as  the  extreme  limit  of  economic  revolu- 
tion. "  We  aim  at,"  says  the  manifesto,  "  some- 
thing more  subhme  and  more  just  than  this — the 
common  good  or  the  community  of  goods  ;  no  more 
individual  property  in  land ;  the  land  belongs  to 
no  one.  We  claim,  we  demand  the  common  en- 
joyment of  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  These  fruits 
belong  to  the  whole  world." 

The  delusion  that  Robespierre  was  essentially 
a  man  of  the  people  rather  than  of  the  middle 
bourgeoisie  is  sufficiently  disposed  of  when  we 
consider  the  measures  of  Robespierre's  government 
in  the  second  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  which 
lasted  a  year.  It  is  true  that,  in  view  of  the 
famine  in  Paris,  it  got  passed  the  Decree  of  Sep- 
tember 1793,  by  which  forty  sous  a  day  were 
granted  to  those  attending  the  assemblies  of  the 
sections.     By  these  means  it  put  an  end,  for  the 


;;:;ife<^::v§%kgagr^^JS^iSS^^«S^^ 


CONCLUSION  257 

time  being,  to  the  rioting  which  had  been  going 
on  for  a  long  time  almost  continuously  in  Paris. 
But  this  was  little  more  than  a  sop  thro^vn  to 
Cerberus.  It  was  necessary  to  ward  off  the  danger 
of  another  organised  insurrection.  On  the  other 
tiand,  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  enacted  severe 
regulations  against  workmen's  combinations  or 
assemblies  with  a  view  of  raising  wages  or  other- 
wise affecting  trade  interests.  Those,  indeed,  who 
should  complain,  in  the  State  factories  now  estab- 
lished for  the  manufacture  of  arms  and  munitions 
Df  war,  were  threatened  with  ferocious  penalties. 
All  parties,  including  RobespieiTe  and  his  friends, 
were  eloquent  in  generalities  respecting  the  desu-a- 
bility  of  a  greater  equality  in  incomes,  condemning 
the  existence  side  by  side  in  the  same  society  of 
abject  indigence  on  the  one  side  and  overweening 
luxury  on  the  other.  But  these,  for  the  most 
part,  were,  as  we  have  seen,  mere  repetitions  of 
phrases  common  at  the  time.  Those  who,  like 
the  Hebertists,  really  desired  to  bring  about 
greater  economic  equality,  soon  found  themselves 
denounced  by  Robespierre  and  his  friends  as 
enrages,  and  ultimately  sent  to  the  guillotine  for 
their  pains. 

Towards  the  end  of  his  political  career,  indeed, 
when  Robespierre  was  desirous  of  conciliating  the 
European  powers,  and  still  more  the  wealthier  bour- 
geoisie at  home,  he  became  more  emphatic  than  ever 

17 


258  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

in  denouncing  all  attacks  on  the  principle  of  private 
property.     Babeufs   later   obsession   in   favour   of 
Robespierre,  which  went  so  far,  as  we  have  seen,  as 
to  proclaim  him  the  protagonist  of  his  own  ideas, 
can  only  be  explained  by  his  hatred  of  the  Thermi- 
doreans,  who  had  supplanted  Robespierre  and  the 
party   he    represented ;    although    certain    Robes - 
pierrists  with  whom  he  came  into  close  contact, 
especially  the  Lebon  family  in  Arras,  and  probably, 
more   than   all,   his   colleague    and   fellow-martyr, 
Darthe,    may   well   have   had    not   inconsiderable 
influence   on   his    change   of  view.      The   change 
between   the  Babeuf  of  the  Journal  de  la  liberie 
de  la  pi'esse  and  of  the  Systeme  de  depopulation, 
and  the  Babeuf  of  the  later  numbers  of  the  Trihun 
du  Peuple,  is  indeed  remarkable.    We  may,  indeed, 
take  it  as  indicating  a  certain  weakness  in  Babeufs 
character  ;  but  if  so,  it  was  weakness  that  indicated 
an  ingenuousness  of  disposition.     The  founder  of 
the  movement  of  the  Equals,  we  can  readily  see, 
was  possessed  of  an  emotional  temperament  which 
carried  him  away,  quite  regardless  of  personal  con- 
siderations.    That  he  was  prepared  to  shelter  his 
own   reputation   for   originality,  without  cause  or 
justification,  behind  that  of  Robespierre,  certainly 
indicates  an  absence  of  personal  canity  not  a  little 
unusual  in  the  founders  of  popular  movements. 

Babeufs  mind  was  undoubtedly  more  original 
than  Robespierre's,  although  the  latter  had  what 


^s§S^^§?iSS^^^^S^^^g5g^^^^^^^^g^^i^g^^^ 


CONCLUSION  259 

Babeuf  lacked.  Robespierre's  ideas,  as  ideas,  were 
but  a  pale  reflex  of  the  teachings  of  Rousseau. 
The  success  of  Robespierre  was  due  to  his  consistent 
pertinacity  in  urging  them,  and  to  his  capacity  for 
imbuing  his  colleagues  and  the  Paris  populace  with 
the  notion  that  he  was  the  pure  and  disinterested 
personification  of  those  ideas.  Babeuf  had  little  of 
Robespierre's  dexterity ;  but  his  boldness  in  apply- 
ing, not  only  the  revolutionary  side  of  Rousseau's 
teachings,  but  the  Utopian  theories  of  Mably  and 
Morelly  to  the  France  of  his  day  ;  his  idea  of  seizing 
the  political  power  by  a  coup  de  viain,  with  a  view 
to  the  immediate  reorganisation  of  society  on  a 
communist  basis,  was  in  itself  original  in  its 
inception.  More  than  this  we  do  not  claim  for 
Babeuf  on  the  score  of  originality. 

In  any  case,  Gracchus  Babeuf  and  his  move- 
ment cannot  fail  to  be  for  the  modern  socialist  of 
the  deepest  possible  historical  interest.  Gracchus 
Babeuf  was,  in  a  sense,  a  pioneer  and  a  hero  of 
the  modern  international  Socialist  party. 

The  movement  of  Babeuf  had  a  kind  of  after- 
math in  the  nineteenth  century  in  that  of  Auguste 
Blanqui.  The  Blanquist  notion  of  the  seizure 
of  the  political  power  by  a  coup  de  main  on  the 
part  of  a  revolutionary  minority,  as  the  sole 
effective  method  preliminary  to  the  reorganisation 
of  society,  is  clearly  traceable  to  the  movement  of 
the  Equals,  and  the  projected  insurrection  of  the 


260  GRACCHUS    BABEUF 

year  V.  Born  on  the  7th  of  February  1805,  only 
eight  years  after  the  execution  of  Babeuf,  son  of 
a  member  of  the  Convention,  Blanqui  in  his  early 
youth  came  into  direct  contact  with  the  old  re- 
volutionary tradition,  and  possibly  had  personal 
acquaintance  with  survivors  of  the  Babou\ists' 
movement.  He  was  certainly  well  read  in  the 
old  revolutionary  literature.  His  influence  on  all 
the  revolutionary  movements  of  France  during  the 
nineteenth  century  was  immense,  and  his  following 
considerable  among  the  student  class,  especially  in 
Paris,  during  the  early  and  mid-nineteenth  century, 
as  well  as  with  the  working  classes  of  the  large 
to^vns.  Auguste  Blanqui  is  a  monumental  instance 
of  single-minded  devotion  to  an  ideal  absolutely 
regardless  of  self,  not  in  a  time  of  crisis  merely, 
but  throughout  a  long  life,  for  this  noble  old  man 
closed  his  career  of  unflmching  devotion,  which 
included  thirty-seven  years  of  imprisonment,  in 
1881,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six.  Two  sayings  of 
his  may  be  quoted,  as  affording  good  instances  of 
the  influence  of  Babeuf  and  his  doctrines  on  the 
nineteenth  century  revolutionary  movements.  In 
summing  up  his  position  on  one  occasion  Blanqui 
wrote :  "  The  social  question  cannot  be  earnestly 
and  effectively  discussed  till  after  the  next  energetic 
and  irrevocable  solution  of  the  political  question." 
And  again,  in  a  programme  dra\^Ti  up  by  him  in 
1869,  we  read:    "The  day  after  the   Revolution, 


co:nclusion  261 

when  the  nation  sees  a  new  horizon  before  it,  two 
parallel  paths  must  be  followed :  the  one  leads  to 
education,  the  other  to  the  co-operation  of  the 
productive  forces  towards  a  common  end."  We 
see  here  plainly  enough  how  the  traditions  of  the 
movement  of  1796  were  carried  do\Mi  by  a  powerful 
personality  far  into  the  nineteenth  century.  And 
the  influence  of  Blanqui  still  lives.  Although  the 
actual  reconstructive  proposals  of  Babeuf,  and  hence 
Babouvism  as  a  Social  doctrine,  may  be  dead  and 
superseded  to-day,  yet  the  Blanquists'  notion,  derived 
from  the  Babouvists,  of  the  seizure  of  the  political 
power  by  the  revolutionary  act  of  a  minority,  and 
the  superintendence  of  the  work  of  reconstruction 
by  that  minority,  has  still  a  following  in  the  modern 
Socialist  party. 


INDEX 


Abbaye,  the,  prison  of,  174,  180, 
181. 

Academic  Roy  ale  des  belles  let  Ires 
at  Arras,  51. 

"Act  of  Insurrection,  the,"  142  et 
seq.  1 54  ;  the  three  bodies  con- 
cerned in  organising,  158  ;  ap- 
proved by  the  Mountain,  161. 

Address  of  the  Tribune  to  the 
Army,  120. 

Adyielle,  Victor,  47,  53  ;  discovers 
Emile  Babeufs  appreciation  of 
his  father,  243. 

Almanack  of  Hottest  Men,  107. 

Amar,  157  ;  meeting  of  a  secret 
committee  in  the  house  of,  105  ; 
a  convert  to  Babeufs  views,  106  ; 
proposes  the  reconstitution  of  the 
National  Convention,  121,  122  ; 
death  of,  241. 

Ami  du  Peiiple,  65. 

Amiens,  66. 

Analyse  de  la  Doctt-ine  de  Baba^uf 
pubhcation  of,  114. 

An  Opinion  on  our  Two  Constitu- 
tions, 120. 

Antonelle,  the  Marquis  d',  speaks  at 
his  trial  in  defence  of  the  act  of 
insurrection,  195  ;  career  of,  241. 

Archives  nationales,  unpublished 
document  in,  165. 

Armand,  the  police  agent,  letter  of, 
166. 

Armies,  the  three,  32. 

Arras,    72,    76,   81,    88,    89,    219  ; 


Babeufs  friends  in,  87;  Babeufs 
letter  to  the  patriots  of,  92. 

Assignats,  inauguration  of,  28,  86  ; 
fall  in  the  value  of,  100,  120. 

Audier,  191. 

Audififret,  56,  62,  63. 

Austria,  war  declared  with,  31. 

Babeuf,  Caius,  provision  made  for, 
241  ;  death  of,  242. 

"  Babeuf,  the  Triljune  of  the  People," 
the  manifesto,  76. 

Babeuf,  Camille,  befriended  by 
Felix  Le  Pelletier,  241  ;  suicide 
of,  242. 

Babeuf,  Claude  (I'Epine),  abilities 
of,  48  ;  career  of,  ib.  ;  character 
of,  49  ;  ^  death,  ib. 

Babeuf,  Emile,  63,  190  ;  illness  of, 
70  ;  adopted  by  Felix  Le  Pelletier, 
241  ;  career,  241,  242  ;  his  ap- 
preciation of  his  father,  243. 

Babeuf,  Louis  Pierre,  243. 

Babeuf,  Madame,  190. 

Babeuf  or  Bobceuf,  the  town  of,  47. 

Babeuf,  Francois  Noel  (Gracchus): 
those  to  whom  he  appealed,  21  ; 
commencement  of  his  political 
activity,  25,  46  ;  his  Paris  jour- 
nalism, ib.  ;  his  subsequent 
change  of  opinions,  ib.  ;  his  con- 
ception of  the  Constitution  of 
1793,  z<5. ;  l^'s  birth  and  parentage, 

47  ;     democratic     principles    of, 

48  ;  youth  of,  49  ;  marriage,  50  ; 


262 


INDEX 


263 


social  standing,  51  ;  his  relations 
\nth  the  A  cade  mi  e  Roy  ale  des 
belles  Icttres  at  Arras,  51  ;  exact 
title  of  his  office  at  Roye,  51 
(note) ;  friendship  u-ith  Dubois 
de  Fosseux,  52  ;  his  appeal  to 
de  Fosseux,  53  :  goes  to  Paris,    ' 

55  ;  makes  the  acquaintance  of  j 
Audiffret,  56  ;  views  on  law,  56  ; 
correspondence  with  de  Fosseux,    j 

56  ;  his  passage  of  arms  with  the 
Comte  de  Casteja,  57  :  zenith  of 
his  prosperity,  ib.  ;  charges  the 
Prior  of  St  Taurin  to  make  an 
abstract  of  the  titles  of  the  prior)-, 

58  ;  his  ruin,  ib. ;  growing  family, 

59  ;  activity  at  the  Cahier  of  the 
Roye  district,  60  ;  present  at  the 
taking  of  the  Bastille,  61 ;  rescues 
a  besieged  nobleman,  ib. ;  returns 
to  Paris,  and  becomes  a  thorough 
partisan  of  the  revolution,  61 
main  object  of  his  visit  to  Paris 

62  ;  poverty  of  his  family,  ib.,  68 
dislike  for  Mirabeau  and  Marat 

63  ;  borrows  from  Audiffret,  ib. 
his  inventions,  ib.  ;  completes 
the  Cadastre  perpetuel,  ib. ;  takes 
the  additional  name  of  Camille, 

64  ;  his  activity,  ib.  ;  imprisoned 
and  released,  65  ;  accused  of 
being  a  turncoat,  66 ;  accepts 
post  of  archivist  at  Amiens,  66  ; 
accepts  post  at  Montdidier,  66  ; 
condemned  to  twenty  years'  penal 
servitude,  67  ;  flies  to  Paris,  ib.  ; 
secures  post  in  Paris,  and  is  joined 
by  his  family,  68,  69  ;  arrested, 
tried,  and  acquitted,  69  ;  at  Laon, 
70  ;  founds  the  Journal  de  la 
liberie  de  la  presse,  70,  71  ; 
attacks  the  Robespierrists  and 
Thermidoreans,  71,  87  ;  de- 
nounces the  methods  of  Carrier, 
72  ;  denounces  Barere,  ib.  ; 
attempt  to  stop  his  paper  and 
seize  him,  73  ;  his  opinion  of  j 
Robespierre,  74  ;    Babeuf  seized   ; 


by  the  police,  issues  manifesto 
from  prison,  76  ;  conveyed  from 
Paris  to  Arras,  ib.  ;  his  com- 
panions in  prison,  ib.  ;  root  ideas 
of  his  communism  first  formu- 
lated, 77  ;  his  friends  in  Arras, 
87  ;  meets  Darthe,  88  ;  his  de- 
scription of  the  Comte  deBethune, 

89  ;  period  of  his  political  activity, 

90  ;  his  indignation  at  the  new 
Constitution,  92 ;  starts  a  political 
society,93;  proclaims  the  doctrine 
of  equality,  97  ;  criticises  the 
Director)',/^.  ;  receives  subscrip- 
tions for  the  Tribun,  98 ;  en- 
deavours to  rally  the  scattered 
revolutionarj-  forces  under  the 
banner  of  the  Constitution  of  '93, 
118;  leader  of  the  movement  for 
electing  a  provisional  govern- 
ment, 123  ;  attends  a  meeting 
of  militar)'  advisers,  153  ;  repre- 
sented by  Grisel  as  a  blood- 
thirsty tiger,  159  ;  attends  meet- 
ing at  Drouefs  house,  160  ;  his 
relations  with  Barras,  169  :  is 
seized,  172,  173  ;  imprisoned  in 
the  Temple,  174  ;  his  letter  to 
the  executive  Directory,  174- 
180 ;  his  enthusiasm  for  the  in- 
surgent cause,  182  ;  his  letter  to 
Felix  Le  Pelletier,  183  ;  is  trans- 
ferred to  Vendome,  190 ;  his 
trial,  191,  194-226 ;  activity  of 
his  party,  191  ;  their  abortive 
insurrection,  191,  192  ;  defends 
the  insurrection,  195  ;  animus  of 
the  prosecution,  197  ;  documents 
seized  in  his  house,  199,  203  ; 
duration  of  his  interrogation, 
203 ;  the  central  indictment  of 
the  prosecution,  204  ;  demands 
of  the  prosecution,  207  ;  logic  of 
the  defence,  210;  acclaims  his 
views  on  private  property,  210  ; 
diffuseness  of  his  defence,  211  ; 
stopped  by  the  President,  ib., 
212,  213;  his  written  statement, 


264 


INDEX 


213  ;  contention  that  he  and  his 
colleagues  could  not  be  brought 
within  the  definition  of  conspira- 
tors as  given  by  the  prosecution, 
217  ;  defines  the  organisation  of 
which  he  was  a  member,  221  ; 
questions  put  to  the  jury  by  the 
President  of  the  Court,  227,  230, 
231  ;  attitude  of  the  jurors,  232  ; 
convicted,  232  ;  sentenced  to 
death,  233, 234 ;  attempts  suicide, 
234 ;  courage  on  the  scaffold, 
235  ;  fate  of  his  body,  ib.  ;  letter 
to  his  wife  and  family,  t'd.  ;  his 
son's  appreciation  of  him,  243  ; 
his  movement  for  resuscitating 
the  Revolutionary  Government, 
246  ;  sincerity,  z'b.  ;  correspond- 
ence with  de  Fosseux,  247 ; 
origin  of  his  ideas,  z6.,  249,  251  ; 
instability,  247  ;  denunciations  of 
Robespierre,  id.  ;  change  in  his 
attitude  to  Robespierre,  248,  258 ; 
manifesto  by  his  Insurrectionary 
Committee,  255  ;  his  view  of  the 
ideal  life  of  the  individual,  z'b.  ; 
originality  of,  258,  259. 

Babouvism,  the  precursors  of,  78  ; 
they  organise  a  seci'et  committee 
of  insurrection,  105  ;  pubhcations 
of,  120. 

Babouvists,  hopes  of  gaining  over 
some  of  the  army,  137,  1 39 ; 
decide  on  a  middle  course,  140 ; 
their  rendezvous,  165  ;  their  pre- 
tended complicity  with  the 
Royalists,  168. 

Bailly,  mayor  of  Paris,  30,  191,  229, 

23;. 
"  Bains   aux    Chinois "    Cafe,    the, 

120  ;  the  keeper  of,  165. 
Ballyer,    addresses    the    Court    at 

Babeuf's  trial,  227. 
Barbier,  203. 
Barere,  72. 
Barras,    40,    87,    98,    202  ;    estates 

acquired  by,  85,  138  ;  prominence 

of,  165  ;  his  complicity  with  "the 


Equals,"  165,  170  ;  his  interviews 
with  Rossignol,  166;  with  Ger- 
main, 166,  167  ;  a  remarkable 
utterance  of,  167  ;  his  invective 
against  the  Royalists,  168 ;  admits 
meeting  Germain,  and  denies  any 
relation  with  Babeuf,  169,  170, 
171  ;  suspected  by  his  colleagues, 
180  ;  connives  at  Drouet's  escape 
from  prison,  182  ;  his  enmity  with 
Carnot,  202. 

Bastille,  the,  fall  of,  26,  61  ;  festival 
on  the  anniversary  of  the  fall,  28. 

Bertrand,  mayor  of  Lyons,  138. 

Bethune,  the  Comte  de,  89. 

Billecocq  family,  the,  58,  60,  65. 

Blanqui,  Auguste,  259  ;  earlyyouth, 
260  ;  influence  on  the  revolution- 
ary movement  in  France  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  260  ;  two 
sayings  of  his,  260. 

Blondeau,  convicted  of  treason,  232. 

Bodson  correspondence,  the,  219, 
248. 

Bonaparte,  87,  167,  171  ;  defeats 
the  royalist  insurrection,  94 ; 
carries  out  the  dissolution  of  the 
Society  of  the  Pantheon,  103. 

Bouille,  28  ;  his  army,  29. 

Bouin,  convicted  of  treason,  232. 

Bourbons,  the,  87. 

Brabant,  the  invasion  of,  32. 

Brissotins,  the,  30  (see  Girodins). 

Broadsheets,  120. 

Brunswick,  launches  his  manifesto 
and  marches  on  Paris,  33  ;  his 
army  repulsed  by  Dumouriez,  34. 

Buonarroti,  Philippe,  105,  T06,  no 
(note),  113,  153,  159,  160,  162, 
165,  173,  190,  202,  203,  231  ;  his 
account  of  the  agenda  of  the 
meetings  of  the  conspiracy  of  the 
Secret  Directory,  124  ;  speaks  in 
defence  of  the  proposed  insurrec- 
tion, 195  ;  justifies  the  existence 
of  the  Secret  Directory,  204,  205  ; 
addresses  the  Court  at  Babeuf's 
trial,  227  ;  convicted,  232. 


INDEX 


265 


Cabet,  78. 

Cadastre  perpetuel^  the,  63. 

Cahier,  the,  60  (note). 

Cambrai,  88. 

Capitahsm,  recent  development  of 
modern,  18. 

Carnot,  Hippolyte,  158, 159;  enmity 
with  Barras,  165  ;  becomes  in- 
former, 172  ;  energy  and  deter- 
mination of,  180. 

Carrier,  40. 

"  Cave  of  Brigands,"  the,  102. 

Cazin,  convicted  of  treason,  232. 

Champs  de  Mars,  the,  the  petition 
carried  to,  30  ;  massacre  of,  ib. 

Chaumette,   40,    249 ;    guillotined, 

43- 
Chronique  de  Paris,  the,  251. 
Church,  the,  buildings  of,  26 ;  landed 

property  of,  83. 
Clergy,  the,  civil  constitution  of,  27  ; 

confiscation  of  their  effects,  ib.  ; 

challenged   in    the   assembly  to 

take  the  oath  to  the  Constitution, 

29. 
Clootz,  Anacharsis,  249. 
Clubs,  development  of,  29. 
Coblentz,  court  of  emigres  at,  31  ; 

Brunswick  launches  his  manifesto 

^t)  33- 
Cobourg,  Royalist    intrigues   with, 

168. 
Cofifinhal,  191. 

Commission  of  Twelve,  the,  37. 
Committee  of  general  security,  the, 

39- 
Committee  of  public  safety,  the,  38, 

39,  256,  257  ;  rivalry  with  the 
Commune,  40,  41  ;  orders  the 
sale  of  confiscated  lands,  84. 

Commune,  the,  supplants  the  mayor 
and  municipal  council,  33  ;  leads 
the  popular  insurrection  against 
the  Convention,  36  ;  rivalry  with 
the  committee  of  public    safety, 

40,  4 1  ;  army  of,  40  ;  attacked  by 
Robespierre,  zA,  41  ;  reorganised, 
43. 


"Companies    of    Jesus,"    the,    225 

(note). 
"  Companies  of  the  Sun,"  the,  225 

(note). 
Confederation,  fete  of  the,  64. 
Constituent  Assembly,  the  dissolu- 
tion of,  30. 
Constitution   of   1793,  the,  37,    38, 

91,  118,   121,  208,  210;  Babeufs 

conception  of,  46. 
Constitution  of  the  year  III.,  121, 

208. 
Constitutionalists,    the,    the    ranks 

of,  21. 
Consulate,  the,  the  financial  middle 

class  under,  85. 
Corday,  Charlotte,  2)7- 
Cordeliers,  the,  club  of,  28,  41,  42. 
Council  of  Five  Hundred,  the,  91, 

122,  141,  171. 
Council  of  the  Ancients,  141. 
Couthon,  38,  45. 
Cyclometre,  the,  63. 

Darthe,  Augustin  Alexandre,  88, 
106,  119,  120,  153,  157,  159,  160, 
161  ;  shelters  Babeuf,  98  ;  his 
efforts  against  the  Society  of  the 
Pantheon,  103  ;  a  member  of  a 
secret  committee,  105  ;  proposes 
a  dictatorship,  123  ;  his  speech 
at  the  opening  of  his  trial,  195- 
197  ;  convicted,  232  ;  sentenced 
to  death,  233,  234  ;  attempts 
suicide,  234  ;  his  courage  on  the 
scaffold,  235  ;  fate  of  his  body, 
ib.  ;  his  influence  on  Babeuf,  258. 

D'Anglas,  Boissy,  139. 

Danton,  28,  41  ;  guillotined,  43. 

Dantonists,  the,  42,  249. 

Debon,  106  ;  proposes  a  dictator- 
ship, 123,  153. 

De  Castej^,  the  Comte,  57. 

De  Fosseux,  Dubois,  52,  54,  55  ; 
correspondence  with  Babeuf,  56. 

77- 
De  la  Meuse,  Armand,  218. 
De  Lauraguais,  the  Comte  de,  61. 


266 


INDEX 


De  Sechelles,  Herault,  38. 

Desmoulins,  Camille,  41  ;  guillo- 
tined, 43. 

De  Soyecourt,  the  Marquis,  58,  59. 

De  Thionville,  Merlin,  85,  98,  138. 

D idler,  121,  153,  160  ;  addresses 
the  court  at  Babeuf's  trial,  227. 

Directory,  the,  86,  87  ;  its  tolera- 
tion of  the  Society  of  the  Pan- 
theon, 94  ;  criticised  by  Babeuf, 
97  ;  decides  to  suppress  the 
Tribun,  97  ;  proposed  address 
to,  100 ;  alarmed  at  progress  of 
the  discussions  of  the  Society  of 
the  Pantheon,  102  ;  decrees  the 
dissolution  of  the  society,  103  ; 
lays  before  the  councils  laws 
against  right  of  public  meeting, 
141  ;  orders  removal  of  legion  of 
police  from  Paris,  152  ;  disbands 
insubordinate  battalions,  152  ; 
Babeuf  s  letter  to,  174-180. 

Do  we  owe  Obedieiicc  to  the  Consti- 
tution ?  1 20. 

Drouet,  Jean  Baptiste,  158,  159, 
160,  161  ;  recognises  the  king  at 
Varennes,  29,  181  ;  meeting  at 
his  house,  160  ;  is  seized,  172  ; 
in  the  Abbaye  prison,  181  ; 
allowed  to  escape,  182  ;  flies 
from  France,  and  subsequently 
becomes  a  sub-prefect  under  the 
empire,  182  ;  death,  182  ;  trial, 
194  ;  career  of,  241. 

Dumonge,  Andre,  66. 

Dumouriez,  drives  back  Brunswick's 
army,  34  ;  his  disasters,  36  ;  de- 
fection of,  208. 

Duplay,  104,  194. 

Du  systhne  de  dcpopiilatio7i^  72. 

Ecclesiastical  estates,  sale  of,  28,  83. 

Emigrant  aristocrats,  army  formed 
by,  27,  28  ;  their  court  at  Co- 
blentz,  31  ;  sale  of  their  lands,  83. 

Empire,  the,  the  financial  middle 
class  under,  85. 

Em-agcs,  the,  42. 


Equality  before  the  law  established, 
26. 

"Equals,"  the,  first  idea  of,  55,  77  ; 
principles  of,  81  ;  conspiracy  of, 
89,  106  ;  manifesto  of,  99,  256  ; 
the  theory  of,  136  ;  Barras'  com- 
plicity with,  165,  170;  their  at- 
tempt to  corrupt  the  legion  of 
police,  214. 

Etat  major,  the,  161,  166,  172. 

Europe,  the  coalition  of,  84. 

Feminist   movement,   the   modern. 

Feudal  rights,  abolition  of,  26. 

Financiers,  influence  of  speculative, 
87. 

Fion,  119,  153,  154,  160;  desig- 
nated a  commander  of  the  insur- 
gent army,  173. 

First  Estate,  the,  25. 

Fleurus,  the  battle  of,  44. 

Fleury,  his  account  of  Babeuf's  at- 
tempted suicide,  234  (note). 

Fouche,  40,  71,  75. 

Foulon,  61. 

Fourier,  78,  80,  81. 

Fournier,  68. 

France,  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
10 ;  population  of,  20 ;  the  middle- 
class  in,  21  ;  old  provinces  of, 
abolished,  27  ;  festival  of  the 
Federation,  28  ;  threatened  with 
invasion,  38  ;  success  of  her 
armies,  40. 

French  Revolution,  the,  the  ground- 
work of  the  thought  of,  9  ;  out- 
look of  the  men  of,  22  ;  Paris  of, 
23  ;  course  of  the  chief  events  of, 
25. 

Freron,  40,  98,  138. 

Gandon,  191. 

Germain,  Charles,  89,  105,  162  ;  to 
win  over  the  legion  of  police, 
119;  an  intermediary  between 
the  committee  of  the  legion  of 
police   and    that    of   the    secret 


INDEX 


267 


directory,  152,  153,  1 54;  his 
letter  to  Babeuf  relative  to  an 
interview  with  Barras,  166  ;  his 
relations  with  Barras,  169  ;  de- 
signated a  commander  of  the  in- 
surgent army,  173 ;  speaks  in 
defence  of  the  act  of  insurrection, 
195  ;  convicted  of  treason,  232  ; 
career  of,  241. 

Girondin  ministry,  a,  31. 

Girondists,  the,  30  ;  the  ranks  of,  2 1 ; 
their  dread  of  Marat  and  Robes- 
pierre, 35  ;  feud  with  the  Moun- 
tain, ib.  ;  their  unpopularity,  36  ; 
get  a  commission  to  inquire  into 
alleged  plots  of  Jacobins,  and 
charge  Marat  with  inciting  to 
disorder,  36  ;  cities  adhering  to, 
37  ;  trial  and  execution  of,  39  ; 
moderate  party  of,  84,  1 38. 

Graphometre-Trigonometrique,the, 

63. 
Crenelle,  the  camp  at,  119,  153,  161, 

191,  192. 
Crenelle,   the   plain  of,  executions 

on,  193. 
Crisel,  George,  119,  120,   153,  205  ; 

treason    of,    158    et    seq.,    164; 

speaks  at  the  camp  of  Crenelle, 

i6r,  162  ;  relates  his  experience 

at  Babeuf's  trial,  202  ;  death  of, 

242. 
Cuffroy,  74. 
Guillotine,  the,  activity  of,  44. 

Hebert,  28,  40,  250 ;  guillotined, 
42  ;  his  views  on  wealth,  253. 

Hebertist  faction,  the,  40,  42,  250  ; 
denounced  by  Robespierre,  257. 

Heron,  106. 

Histoire  et  Droits  Paul  Robriquet's, 
165. 

Holland,  the  invasion  of,  36. 

Industrial   capitalist,  the,  interests 

of,  18. 
Isnard,  royalist  intrigues  with,  168. 


Jacobin  Club,  the,  influence  of,  27, 
37  ;  their  accusations  against  the 
counter-revolutionaries,  32 ;  their 
suppression  demanded  by  Lafa- 
yette, ib.  ;  clamour  for  the  de- 
thronement of  the  king,  33  ;  their 
alleged  plots,  36  ;  the  stronghold 
of  Robespierre,  41  ;  closed,  45  ; 
persecution  of,  81  ;  members 
summoned  to  Paris  for  an  insur- 
rection, 137,  138. 

Jauveux,  160. 

Jeunesse  doree,  the,  89. 

Jourdan,  General,  44,  139. 

Journal  de  la  latigue  frangaise,  57. 

Journal  de  la  liberie  de  la  presse, 
70,  71,  72,  75,  247,  258. 

La  Constitution  du  Corps-mili- 
taire  en  Fratice,  53,  54,  57. 

Lafayette,  marches  to  Versailles, 
26  ;  at  the  Champs  de  Mars,  30  ; 
the  army  under,  32  ;  demands 
the  suppression  of  the  Jacobins, 
ib.  ;  deserts  his  army  and  flies 
the  country,  ib. 

Laflantry,  227. 

Laignelot  or  Langelot,  160,  172. 

L^Aini  des  Sans-culottes,  Tallien's, 
218. 

Landowner,  the,  interests  of,  18. 

La  nouvelle  distinction  des  ordres, 

63- 
Laon,  70. 

Laparent,  Charles  Cochon,  174. 
Larivelliere-Lepeaux,  loi,  170. 
Latour,  General,  192. 
La   Vendee,  royalist   outbreak  in, 

34,  208. 
Law  of  Maximum,  the,  45. 
Lebas,  45. 
Lebois,  76. 
Lebon,  J.,  40,  87,  88. 
Lebon  family,  the,  258. 
Le  Changement  du  monde  entier, 

5,4- 
L'Eclatreur  du  Peuple,  104. 

Le  Code  de  la  nature,  55,  TJ. 


268 


INDEX 


Le  Correspondant  Picard,  65,  76. 

Legendre,  85,  98,  138. 

"  Legion  of  Police,"  the,  ordered 
to  leave  Paris,  152  ;  committee 
of,  formed,  ib.  ;  manifesto  of,  ib.  ; 
composition  of,  214. 

Legislative  Assembly,  the,  first 
meeting  of,  30 ;  its  decrees  vetoed 
by  the  king,  31  ;  decrees  a  mili- 
tary camp  before  Paris,  32  ;  dis- 
solution of,  34. 

Le  Joiirttal  cie  Pe'galite\  76. 

Lemoignan,  his  proposal  to  reform 
the  magistracy,  56. 

Le  Mercure  dc  France^  57. 

Le  Pelletier,  Felix,  106,  173,  182, 
187  ;  trial  of,  194  ;  career  of,  241. 

Le  Pelletier,  Louis  Michel,  173 
(note). 

Le  vieux  Cordelier^  41. 

Libre,  France,  120. 

Lindet,  Robert,  157,  160;  trial  of, 
194- 

Louis  XVL,  king,  refuses  to  dis- 
miss the  troops  at  Versailles,  26  ; 
dismisses  Necker,  ib.  ;  recalls 
Necker,  ib.  ;  takes  up  his  resi- 
dence at  the  Tuileries,  27  ;  plots 
to  get  him  away  to  Metz,  ib.  ; 
flight  of,  29  ;  recognised  by 
Drouet,  29  ;  brought  back  from 
Varennes  to  Paris,  30 ;  vetoes 
decrees  of  the  Assembly,  31,  32  ; 
compelled  to  remonstrate  with 
European  powers  for  harbouring" 
the  emigres,  31 ;  forced  to  appoint 
a  Girondin  ministry,  ib.  ;  growth 
of  the  movement  for  his  deposi- 
tion, 32,  -^2)  '■>  imprisoned  in  the 
Temple,  34  ;  his  deposition,  ib.  ; 
condemned  to  death,  35. 

Luckner,  the  army  under,  32. 

Luxembourg,  the,  attack  on,  192. 

Lyons,  138. 

Mably,  influence  of  his  writings  on 

Babeuf,  247,  251. 
Maignet,  40. 


"Manifesto  of  the  Equals,"  the, 
107-113  ;  pubhcation  of,  99,  107; 
its  motto,  107. 

Marat,  28  ;  dreaded  by  the  Gir- 
ondists, 35  ;  indictment  of,  36  ; 
murder  of,  37  ;  Babeuf  s  dislike 
of  63 ;  claims  the  release  of 
Babeuf  when  imprisoned,  65  ; 
his  views  on  poverty,  253. 

Marechal,  Sylvain,   104,    106,    107, 

153- 

Marie  Antoinette,  guillotined,  39. 

Mario,  Colonel,  192. 

Marseilles,  arrival  of  a  battalion  of 
Guards  from,  33. 

Marsh  party,  the,  35. 

Massart,  105,  153,  160,  161  ;  desig- 
nated a  commander  of  the  in- 
surgent army,  173 ;  addresses 
the  Court  at  Babeuf's  trial,  227. 

Massillon,  191. 

Mathieu,  38. 

Menessier,  convicted  of  treason, 
232. 

Metz,  plots  to  get  the  king  to,  27. 

Meunier,  203. 

Mirabeau,  death  of,  29  ;  BabeuPs 
dislike  of,  63. 

Momoro,  guillotined,  42. 

Montdidier,  66,  68,  69. 

Moreau,  191. 

Morelly,  book  by,  55,  T^,  78,  79, 
80,  81  ;  iniluence  of  his  writings 
on  Babeuf,  247,  251. 

Moroy,  convicted  of  treason,  232. 

Mountain,  the,  34,  92,  122  ;  feud 
with  the  Gironde,  35  ;  influence 
of,  37  ;  opposition  to  the  con- 
stitution of  1793,  38  ;  persecution 
of,  81,  138  ;  conspiracy  of,  139, 
1 54  ;  expulsion  from  the  con- 
vention, 167  ;  attempts  to  deliver 
the  insurgent  prisoners,  182. 

Nain  Jai/ne,  the,  242. 
Nancy,  the  affair  of,  28. 
National   Assembly,   the,  adoption 
of  the  title  of,  25  ;  refusal  of  the 


Hi 


^im^m5^^^^is^^m?^^'-w^&KS^i2:^cs^ 


INDEX 


269 


king  to  its  request  to  remove  the 
troops  at  Versailles,  26 ;  abolishes 
all  feudal  rights  and  establishes 
her  equality,  z'd.  ;  invaded  by  the    , 
populace,  27  ;    transfers  itself  to    ' 
Paris,//^. ;  confiscates  the  effects  of 
the  clergy,  zd.  ;  distrusted  by  the 
popular  party,  29  ;  challenges  the 
clergy   to   take   the   oath  to  the    | 
Constitution,   29  ;    the  moderate    | 
party  in,  30. 

fational  Convention,  a,  convoked, 
34  ;  decrees  a  Republic,  zl>.  ;  the  ^ 
two  parties  in,  zd.  ;  popular  in- 
surrection against,  36 ;  passes 
the  law  of  Prairial,  44  ;  amnesty 
proclaimed  by,  90  ;  proposed  re- 
constitution,  122. 
lecker,    dismissed,    26  ;    recalled, 

zd. ;  inaugurates  assignats^  28. 
lobles,  emigration  of,  26. 
Joyon,  F.  N.  Babeuf  has  a  post  at, 
50  ;  Babeuf  visits,  64,  65. 

'ache,  mayor  of  Paris,  193. 

'acivists,  the,  42. 

'antheon,  the,  the  Society  of,  91 
et  seq.  ;  toleration  of  its  meetings, 
94  ;  constitution  of,  95  ;  order  of 
its  meetings,  99  ;  questions  at- 
tracting their  attention,  100;  pro- 
gress of  their  discussions,  102  ; 
their  dissolution  decreed  by  the 
Directory,  103  ;  attempt  to  de- 
liver the  insurgent  prisoners,  182. 

Paris,  of  the  Revolution,  23 ;  forma- 
tion of  a  citizen  guard  in,  26  ; 
starvation  in,  26,  87  ;  a  battalion 
of  Guards  from  Marseilles  arrives, 
33  ;  famine  in,  35,  256  ;  pro- 
mulgation of  a  new  constitution, 
37  ;  nationalising  of  the  houses, 
84 ;  under  the  Directory,  87  ; 
preparations  for  insurrection,  1 38 ; 
a  glimpse  at  the  life  of,  200  ;  riot- 
ing in,  257. 

"  Patriots  of  '89,"  the,  94,  96. 

Pelee,  fortress  on  the  island  of,  240. 


Pere  Duc/iesne  ionrnal,  the,  40. 

Petion,  mayor  of  Paris,  31. 

Philippeaux,  43. 

Pitt,  royalist  intrigues  with,  168. 

Plain  party,  the,  35. 

Potofeux,  232. 

Prairial,  the  law  of,  44. 

Ramel,  38. 

Real,  228,  229  ;  career  of,  240, 
241. 

Reason,  the  worship  of,  40. 

"  Reign  of  Terror,"  the,  39,  44,  45  ; 
decree  passed  during,  97. 

Reveillon,  20. 

Rewbell,  138. 

Re)^alade,  228. 

Reys,  trial  of,  194. 

Richambeau,  the  army  under,  32. 

Ricord,  interviews  Germain  -with 
reference  to  the  act  of  insurrec- 
tion, 1 54 ;  conditions  agreed 
upon  between  Ricord  and  the 
secret  director}',  155  to  157  ;  his 
residence  searched,  160 ;  is 
seized,    172  ;    at    Babeuf  s    trial, 

205- 

Robert,  royalist  intrigues  with, 
168. 

Robespierre,  an  opening  for  his 
influence,  29  ;  dreaded  by  the 
Girondists,  35  ;  full  power  of,  39  ; 
attacks  the  Paris  Commune,  40  ; 
his  two  enemies,  41  ;  arrests  the 
Hebertist  leaders,  42  ;  his  fol- 
lowers in  the  Commune,  43 ; 
founds  the  Festival  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  43  ;  his  isolation, 
44,  45  ;  death  of,  45  ;  fall  of,  70 ; 
Babeuf 's  opinion  of,  74  ;  Babeuf  s 
attacks  on  his  followers,  71,  87  ; 
Babeuf's  denunciations  of  him, 
247  ;  change  in  Babeuf's  attitude 
towards  him,  248-258  ;  measures 
of  his  government  in  the  second 
committee  of  public  safety,  256  ; 
denounces  the  Hebertists,  257  ; 
his  desire  to  conciliate  the  bour- 


270 


INDEX 


geoisie  and  the  European  powers, 
257  ;  his  ideas,  259. 

Robriquet,  Paul,  165. 

Rossignol,  153,  154,  160;  his  inter- 
views with  Barras,  166  ;  desig- 
nated a  commander  of  the  insur- 
gent army,  173  ;  trial  of,  194. 

Rousin,  40  ;  guillotined,  42. 

Rousseau,  the  first  important  essay 
of,  51. 

Royalist  insurrection,  the,  94,  167. 

Roye,  Babeuf  attached  to  a  land- 
owner at,  49,  50 ;  Babeuf  s 
activity  in,  60,  64 ;  seigniorial 
archives  burnt,  61  ;  Babeuf 
leaves,  66. 

Royalists,  the,  hopes  of,  139  ; 
dangers    of    the    country    from, 

167  ;  their  intrigues  with  Pitt, 
Cobourg,    Isnard,    and    Robert, 

168  ;  Barras'  invective  against,  ib. 

St  Etienne,  Rabaut,  251,  252,  253. 

St  Genevieve,  the  convent  of,  95. 

St  Just,  38,  45,  249. 

St  L6,  240. 

St  Quentin,  64. 

St  Taurin,  the  Priory  of,  58. 

Santerre,  20. 

Second  Estate,  the,  25. 

Secret  Directory,  the,  its  inaugura- 
tion, 105  ;  its  theory,  106  ;  its 
composition,  106  ;  does  not  sanc- 
tion the  publication  of  the 
"Manifesto  of  the  Equals"  as  its 
own,  107,  113;  decides  to  publish 
the  "  Analysis  of  the  Doctrine  of 
Babeuf,"  114  ;  in  one  direction  a 
continuation  of  the  Society  of 
the  Pantheon,  118  ;  nature  of  its 
work,  119;  success  of,  120; 
decides  on  a  provisional  govern- 
ment, 123  ;  draft  of  its  proposed 
constitution,  124-136;  confronted 
with  a  rival  conspiracy,  1 39 ; 
design  of,  141  ;  insurrectionary 
committee  of,  and  manifesto 
issued  by,  142  et  seq.  ;   its  propa- 


ganda with  the  army,  152  ;  forms 
a  revolutionary  advanced  guard, 
153;  transfers  its  meetings  to  a 
house  in  the  Faubourg  Mont- 
martre,  153  ;  the  minister  oi 
police  breaks  into  the  house,  162  ; 
number  of  men  at  its  disposal, 
163  ;  its  final  arrangements  for 
insurrection,  172  ;  its  leaders 
seized,  ib.  ;  reports  of  its  agents, 
199  ;  Buonarroti  justifies  its 
existence,  204,  205. 

Seine,  the,  tribunal  of,  231. 

September  massacres,  the,  34. 

Seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies, the,  the  leading  political 
and  economic  categories  of,   17. 

Sieyes,  the  Abbe,  25,  91. 
Socialist,  the  modern,  21,  22. 
Spanish  patriots,  the,  241. 
States-General,  the,  opening  of,  25. 
Supreme  Being,  the.  Festival  of,  43, 
Swiss  regiment,  the,  28. 
Systhne  de  depopulation.,  Babeuf's, 
258. 

Tafifoureau,  76. 

Tallien,  71,  98  ;  brings  forward  a 
motion  for  Babeuf's  arrest,  75, 
76  ;  marriage  of,  85,  138. 

Temple,  the,  imprisonment  of  the 
king  in,  34  ;  imprisonment  ol 
Babeuf  and  his  friends  in,  174. 

"Theophilanthropist,"  the,  loi. 

Thermidor,  revolution  of  9th,  7c 
et  seq. 

Thermidorean  leaders,  71,  82,  85, 
98. 

Thibaudeau,  139. 

Third  Estate,  the,  25. 

Tissot,  the  tailor,  172. 

Treillard,  Anne,  75,  76. 

Tribun  dii  Peuple,  j^i  §5,  88,  210, 
220,  223,  230,  258  ;  circulation  in 
the  Pas  de  Calais,  93  ;  becomes 
the  official  organ  of  the  Society 
of  the  Pantheon,  93  ;    proclaims 


■£ix:X';:K-i:.i^im^ 


:■^'jV:^jsyKSj^^v^^^^:,gg;«^;r>:?><^ 


INDEX 


271 


•'  the    doctrine    of    equality,    97  ; 

comes  to  an  end,  98,  104. 
Triumph    of  the  French    People^ 
■-  120. 
Tuileries,  the,  27  ;  invaded  by  the 

populace,  32  ;  decision  to  storm, 

33- 

Utopian  socialism,  the  beginnings 
of,  55,  78. 

Vadier,  seizure  of,  172  ;  acquitted, 
239;  length  of  his  imprisonment, 
239,  240  ;  career,  241. 


Valmy,  the  victory  of,  34. 

Vaneic,  119. 

Varennes,  the  flight  to,  29,  30. 

Varlet,  253. 

Vendome,  gloom  of  the  inhabitants 

at  the  execution  of  Babeuf  and 

Darthe,  235. 
Viellart,    191,    229 ;   addresses   the 

court  at  Babeuf  s  trial,  227  ;  his 

appeal  to  the  jury,  228. 
Volunteers,  enrolment  of,  32,  33. 

Westermann,  43. 

"White  Terror,"  the,  225  (note). 


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